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Lee Strunk is one of the soldiers in Tim’s platoon. After starting out on rocky ground with Dave Jensen, the two became friends, bonded together by a contract stating that if either one sustains a disabling injury, the other will kill him. When one of Lee’s legs is blown off at the knee, he immediately changes his mind about the contract, and begs Dave not to kill him. Despite Dave’s assurances that he won’t, Lee is still pleading for his life by the time he’s loaded into the rescue chopper. He dies from his wound on the way to the hospital.

Lee’s character shows that death’s power and permanence are more frightening and motivating than any other horror. The sentiment that death is better than living with a crippling injury or disability isn’t an uncommon one, and can still be a pervasive belief among men, who often feel that their worth is defined through their physical ableness. However, when Lee finds himself choosing between living with an amputated leg or death, he immediately chooses life with a disability over what he may have previously considered to be a clean, respectable death. Lee’s reaction to his injury shows how quickly the facade of tough, uncompromising masculinity fades away when young men are faced with death. Many of the men in Tim’s platoon put on airs of bravery or nonchalance for their peers, but when this performance is tested, such as during combat, it fails almost instantly.

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