The prologue: Jorgenson in hospital
During the course of his suffering at the field hospital, Jorgenson is physically weakened almost to the point of death, and can’t do anything if not wait.
His own, very personal perception of the hospital is clearly exaggerated, almost horror-film like. His perception has obviously been altered by something, even if we don't know what to be exact.
The horrific conditions found in military hospitals, happens to be a recurring theme seen in many Vietnam War memorials and several films as well. Generally, these horrors go above and beyond the imagination, turning the hospitals into bleak, scruffy and highly contaminated areas. In some films, such as JACOB'S LADDER and BORN ON THE FOURTH JULY (the latter telling the story of the veteran and then journalist Ron Kovic), the horrors are plainly evident.
Many of the veterans unlucky enough to experience the kind of agony Jorgenson did throughout this book, described their hospitals to be just as horrible, if not worse, recalling details that had never existed (as was the case with rats) but believing them true even years later.
Within the pages of a military book about medicine and psychology, I discovered that this psychological phenomenon was well known to those working with the wounded. Moreover, I discovered that it happens with regularity, even nowadays in situations of war.
In near death situations, one’s state of mind and weakened physical state put those who are injured into a mind-state not unlike a 'bad trip' obtained by using the very famous LSD hallucinogen drug.
This occurs because the injured awaits the coming of death, and is stuck in a situation where stress levels become unbearably high and there’s nothing he can do to defend himself from it.
Having to wait, and not being able to do anything in the meantime, becomes unsustainable.
Minute after minute anxiety builds up so much that the brain starts misunderstanding the signal it receives from the real world, and the sounds and images change to such a degree that the wounded starts having hallucinations.
The hospital seen through Jorgenson's eyes, with its unreal scenes and its rats on the floor is an accurate depiction of this phenomenon, which is similar to what is described in those manuals.