There are many different types of loss addressed throughout the book. What do O'Brien and the other characters in the book lose, in your opinion? What losses do you feel most strongly in your own life, and how do you deal with them?

There are many different types of loss addressed throughout the book: the loss of life, of course, but also the loss of the past (for example, after Tim O'Brien gets shot for the second time, he feels the loss of being a "real" soldier very strongly and misses the excitement and fraternity of combat). What else do O'Brien and the other characters in the book lose, in your opinion? What does resurrecting these losses through story accomplish? What losses do you feel most strongly in your own life, and how do you deal with them? Do you talk about them?

I think O'Brien and the other characters lost their innocence and naive world view. They were forced to confront a harsher world.