When Carl Melcher is in Japan and recovering from his wound, he has similar feelings for he feels distant from those soldiers station in Japan. They are not like him and just as foreign as those civilians are to Paul Baumer. This points out the clear difficulty that both men will have in adjusting to life after war.

Carl Melcher falls in love with a Vietnamese woman and almost goes AWOL because of her. Here is the interesting counter. When Melcher and his group are assigned to village Dak-To, they find peace. The young Vietnamese woman, named Chantel, flirts with Carl Melcher and he responds. Yet this affair is doomed. As Melcher quips, only the army would reassign him as he falls in love. He never sees her again or hears from her. He even has his Lieutenant seek her out while out in the bushes, but the Lieutenant never can find her as well. War disrupts all aspect of life including love and takes precedence over all. The army, the green machine, is the dominant aspect of his life for the year that he spents in Vietnam. Love does not conquer all in war.

It is in the hospital scene that Clayton breaks through. Melcher develops a rapport with two soldiers, Greg Mills and Jack Krouse. Both Krouse and Mills delay their recovery as long as they can, knowing that another trip back to war zone is their likely destination after they leave the hospital. Melcher becomes good friends with them. Krouse is the most interesting character of the book and through him; Melcher sees the futility of war. Krouse is essentially a beaten man and his depression spreads to Melcher. For Krouse, his only escape is death and his suicide is a natural progression. With Mills scheduled to transfer and Melcher is not far behind; Krouse finds himself alone. Melcher finds out that Krouse has hidden Melcher letters that were intended for Melcher friends in Vietnam. As Mills tells Melcher, it was Krouse way of protecting Melcher and hopefully allowing Melcher to break from his recent past.

Krouse is similar to Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front. With less than month left in the war, Baumer is killed but Remarque knows that Baumer could no longer cope with the post war. Baumer would only find peace in death. Jack Krouse is no different than Baumer for he could no longer adjust to civilian life. The war has wounded both men beyond repair. As for Melcher, he finally finds out the fate of his fellow soldiers. He finds those that he left behind have all died on the front. For a solder like Melcher, this was the unkindest blow for as he was recuperating, his fellow band of brothers were being killed. He was in the secluded safety of a hospital in Japan with a ticket stateside. He dreams of his friends in their last days and a little guilt of begin a survivor kicks in.