The Things They Carried and Notes

In the short story The Things They Carried O'Brien writes in a rambling way about the different equipment the soldiers actually carried. He goes into detail that doesn't seem important at first about the weight of these objects. These inanimate objects aren't important until compared to the emotional tolls the men also carried.
Their hearts are heavy. They must weigh the most. Their thoughts are heavy too. I believe towards the end First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross realizes with all the real weight from his gear he cannot afford to carry anything of an emotional nature like letters from Martha. He had to become a soldier more like a machine doing a task rather than a man who could get tied up in emotions, which in war could ultimately kill you. This is why he burnt the letters and the pictures to become more regimented.
I think Norman Bowker, from the Notes short story, never fully separated life back in the States with life in Vietnam during the war. When he couldn't get past the fabricated daydreams of life after the war created during it, he ended up killing himself. He "described the problem of finding a meaningful use for his life after the war" to O'Brien.
O'Brien probably inhanced the things they carried story to help us understand Notes better. O'Brien mentions this tactic in Notes.