Both men find that war is indeed a brutal game. In Carl Melcher goes to Vietnam, the author not emphasizes the actual combat but the boredom of the soldier’s life as well. This adds to Clayton’s point on how war changes one personality. For Carl Melcher, the killing associated with war is treated as an everyday aspect of life as the soldiers start becoming immune to it all. Paul Baumer is not much different. As the war progressed, he realizes that he will never be the same. He views himself different from those at home for they will never truly understand his plight. War becomes his daily existence and seared into his soul. How could a man who sees thousands of comrades die on a daily basis be able to find peace?
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.
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