Having quite a bit of family in the military, you wonder what it's like. You wonder how different people are in the field than when they are at home. At the beginning of this story, the description of their daily tasks seem so...nonchalant. They had to wear jungle boots and those weighed 2.1 pounds. Their special jackets weighed in at 6.7 pounds.
And the priorities change drastically when you have this occupation, apparently. Personal belongings ranged from a bible to premium dope. But underwear was not considered a necessity. That would probably just be another pound of weight in their minds. When it was down to how much they could carry, they carried the important things in life. Or shall I say they were humping the important things in life?
It's interesting to use the word "hump," which obviously has more than one connotation in this story, when the Lieutenant believes Martha to be a virgin.
"What they carried varied by mission." I think, however, that some things they carried remained constant, and that was the memories they kept with them. Lieutenant Cross kept the memories of Martha, accurate or not, to help him through. If he had to pretend to get through, he would. And with that, they carried the hardships (what they had to get through) of the average day. They carried sadness and fear and resentment. They carried sadness with death of a team member. They carried fear of being next. And they carried resentment toward the less-than-glamourous tasks they were required to perform. Having to kill chickens and dogs and men while they were still urinating....killing everything in sight...was resented.
Lieutenant Cross carries the good memories of Martha. He remembers high school and the day he should have been more brave. And he wonders endlessly to distract his mind from the bad memories that he also carries. The bad memories weighed the most of all of their posessions, even the 6.7 pound jacket.
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