Ted Lavender's death wasn't his fault at all. Jimmy Cross was only a youth and not yet fully matured to become a first lieutenant. Jimmy Cross daydreams and fantasies of Martha's letters and photos. Allow him to escape the war, think about life at home. The Vietnam War was a very repetitive daily life because they had no clear mission. They just compared village to village doing the same things over and over again. Ted Lavender's death is a great tragedy of the Vietnam War, and it's not Jimmy's fault.