Story-truth

At the end of The Things They Carried we are left not really knowing what truly happened-which stories were real, which ones were made up-which I think is exactly how O'Brien felt. He too didnt, or couldnt, even distinguish reality from his imagination. He wanted us to feel that confusion, to understand that thats what memories are, thats what the mind does. The War had become a mixed up version of the truth-a blur of what really happened and how he remembered it happening. But the exact truth doesnt matter-how you remember it is what counts, how it affects you and makes you feel. So he didnt need to focus on facts, but on making us feel what he felt.
He uses these stories not only to connect with us-or really make us connect with him and his experiences, but to comfort himself. He kept his memories, the people he cared about, his experiences, alive through his stories. As long as he could tell stories, he could hold on to these people forever, because with each story they came alive once again.