Great detail is stated about the purpose of each item and how each item can be used. And I believe this plays into the central theme about the internal burdens they have to lug around. As you read, you can grasp each man's internal weight and how they have to carry it and why. John Greenya, a journalist and book reviewer for the Washington Post stated it "avoids grand sweeping sentences and word tsunamis, opting instead for simplicity. But it's not a mannered simplicity, the kind that after a while devolves into self-parody; it's the oh-so-powerful simplicity of the true" [ CITATION Joh10 l 1033 ]. And I think that's why this story can hit home with so many, because it's very relatable with everyone, war vet or not, with age not being a factor either. So our main character goes on and on about his sweetheart back home, that burden led into a new and tragic one, that now he must move on from. He puts on the officer face, orders and leads his men with a purpose that memories of home will never allow another disaster to happen. But as is the theme, he is unable to drop this heavy item, he must mask it and carry on.
This then leads into the conflict these men have in their heads. Since they are, on the exterior, big strong warriors, these deeply crushing things must be placed behind a mask of masculinity. One of the men was right next to the man that was shot in the head, and to mask what really is going on in his head, he downplays what happened by saying "boom-down not a word", but as you read on he says it so many times that you get the sense that this death is now forever imprinted in his mind, and he has no idea how to deal with it, and no idea how to stay the tough solider that he is supposed to be. Others try to make light of it by saying "zapped while zipping" which I sure was a poor attempt at making a joke, but never really was. These are the ways the men tried to process the internal conflicts inside.