He brings the uninitiated about as close to understanding as they will ever get. The style he uses to do this invokes fractured and jumbled up images, which actually simulate memories. That is, when we recall things from the past we get a lot of incomplete thoughts and images, sounds, etc. which our brain orders, classifies and basically fills in the blanks when there is a lack of information. The stories convey feelings of disillusionment and disconnection which is what many soldiers felt over in Vietnam where they were fighting for no really definite cause, no readily definable purpose, other than to somehow keep communism in check or simply because they had been told to. Personally, I connect with these feelings, they resonate with me for reasons that I would rather not discuss here.
Point of view varies from limited to omniscient.
The book is just a gas to read. More that simply a book about war .