From the beginning of Dispatches,the role that choice plays in the lives of the various characters is explored. When Herr sits down with a young Marine to eat their C-rations, the Marine says, “Boy, you sure get offered some shitty choices,” but Herr interprets this as “you didn’t get offered any at all” (16). Herr feels that experience has taught this young man that “there was no one anywhere who cared less about what he wanted” (16). But then Herr goes on to say that the Marine is “breathing in and breathing out, some kind of choice all by itself” (16).

When listing the attitudes of the men to the many ways they could get maimed and killed, Herr leans toward determinism: “There were choices everywhere, but they were never choices that you could hope to make” (134). The possibilities are vast, but the ability to choose your poison doesn’t exist. The threat of having their testicles blown off, as some had seen happen to others, drove the men to bargain with God: “Take my legs, take my hands, take my eyes, take my fucking life, You Bastard, but please, please, please, don’t take those” (133).

With all the death and violence that Herr has encountered, the one thing that he cannot confront is “the look that made you look away” (208).