I think it is A) realizes the full impact the loss of the woman has on his life since it mostly talking in past tense. I hope this helps
The soldiers and the journalists that were writing about it were very close to the action. They wrote about their experiences. Moreover, the Vietnam literature has no “escape hatches” (meaning we don't have comic relief, no moments of romance, and scant emphasis on coming-of-age energy). The primary goal was to make us feel like we were there.
He tells us that the mind can make its own hell out of heaven
