Tim O'Brien Response

I believe Tim O'Brien's exploration of truth, reality, and morals of story telling are in a way twisted. I actually understand, in a way, the complications of which is fact and which is fiction when dealing with war stories. As he stated, people do not like to hear of all the gore, blood, depression, and death. People do not like hearing about that much less trying to comprehend that soldiers and others live in such a life. Those who do not have to deal with the reality of war seem to just ignore it and not try to place themselves in the situation, it is to much for some to handle.
I believe, no matter the controversy of whether it is right or wrong, that you should always tell the truth when telling war stories. People need to know what our troops go through daily! We cannot be oblivious to the world around us. We need to be able to trust writers through war stories; they are our only way we could possibly try to understand what soldiers go through. If we can get an infinitesimal understanding of what war is like we will, or we should, be able to relate with them and feel their pain.
Reality is something that is different for everyone. For those who have been through the war and have lived the life their reality could be the complete opposite of you or I. For them they could see death as a blessing while one who have not been through war could see it as a curse. Reality has no sound definition for everyone. It changes from person to person.
Morals also change from person to person. When one has to decide at the last possible second, whether it is right or wrong to leave behind a man or take him, kill someone or let them live, morals get thrown out the window. I see nothing wrong with this because I do not know what soldiers go through during times of war and I pray that I never have to make that choice. Our sense of morals, I believe, have gotten lost over the past decades. What once was terribly wrong is now acceptable.