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In the chapter, The Ghost Soldiers, O'Brien recalls the two times he was shot in battle. Comparing the two experiences he had with two different medics, he clearly expresses that his experience with Rat Kiley was much better than the other. Rat was always quick to aid to the members of his platoon when one of them was injured. For example, when O'Brien was shot, he recalls that Rat was there instantly. "He tied on a compress and told me to ease back, then he ran off toward the fighting... Thank God for Rat Kiley. Every so often, maybe four times altogether, he trotted back to check me out" (O'Brien 189). Rat's caring personality and hard work ethic are two important factors in why he was so good at his job. Even in the most dangerous battles, he stayed completely focused on making sure his men were getting the necessary medical attention needed to survive the war.

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Rat Kiley is very used to having a set mission and a purpose in the platoon, as he is a medic and assigned to care for the wounded. Along with this, his young spirit and playful nature makes him a person who always wants to chat and tell jokes. This gives him and the other soldiers relief and a distraction from the constant stress of war. However, when Rat and the rest of the platoon are assigned a new task called "night walks", Rat cannot cope. O'Brien describes it as, "They'd blunder along through the dark, willy-nilly, no sense of place or direction, probing for an enemy that nobody could see... no one talking except in whispers" (O'Brien 221). This passage describes the platoon's new "night walk" missions as having "no sense of direction". Since Rat Kiley is so used to a routine and a set mission, the "night walks" drive him crazy, as he does not know where they are going or who they are searching for. In addition to this, Rat relied on his jokes and friendly interactions just as much as the other soldiers did for distraction. But the night walks take this away from him, as exemplified by the description of the platoon, "no one talking except in whispers". Since Rat Kiley is driven crazy by the "night walks" that lack a set goal and time for distraction, one can deduce that he is stuck in his ways.

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As the war continued and Rat was exposed to even more trauma and death, he was more affected than he had thought. The days that turned into the night were breaking points for Rat Kiley. O'Brien recalls that, "Rat Kiley finally hit a wall. He couldn't sleep during the hot daylight hours; he couldn't cope with the nights" (O'Brien 222). The death and fear that consumed Rat Kiley during the night became too much for him to handle. The vivid images that flooded his brain, including his friends dead and decapitated, were a sign of his inability to cope with the death any longer. He found it disturbing that he was not afraid rather interested in the images his brain was creating. Ultimately, shooting himself was the only escape he found to his endless torture in watching the men around him die.

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After Curt Lemon's death, "Rat pours his heart out. He says he loved the guy. He says the guy was his best friend in the world. They were like soul mates, he says, like twins or something, they had a whole lot in common" (O'Brien 68). Rat clearly believed friendship to be one of his most important values, as when he loses his friend Curt he is devastated. However, Curt's death does not prevent Rat from keeping their friendship alive. He decides to write a homage to Curt, in which he "pours his heart out". The fact that he puts so much emotion and effort into this letter proves that he clearly loved Curt and believed his friendship needed to be honored. Rat also describes him and Curt as akin to soulmates, which is high praise. This further proves that friendship, specifically Curt's, meant more to Rat Kiley than the average person.

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The stress of the war eventually leads Rat to the breaking point, which O'Brien describes as, "He opened up a can of C rations, pork and beans, but the baby buffalo wasn't interested. Rat shrugged. He stepped back and shot it through the right front of the knee... It wasn't to kill; it was to hurt" (O'Brien 78-79). In this scene, it is clear that the constant death and the accompanying sadness has broken Rat. His temper is no longer what it was, for as soon as the buffalo rejects his attempt to feed it, he starts shooting at it. His rampage against the buffalo is a clear reflection of his newly shortened temper due to the constant stress of the war. O'Brien's description of Rat's motive as "it was to hurt", proves that he can no longer control himself, as war has destroyed his temper and made him a pure killer without a motive.

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Throughout the war, the bond between Rat Kiley and his friend Curt Lemon grew significantly. When Lemon died, it impacted Rat Kiley immensely and left him extremely upset. O'Brien describes the events after Curt Lemons death and how Rat Kiley reacted. "Curt Lemon was dead. Rat Kiley had lost his best friend in the world. Later in the week he would write a long personal letter to the guys sister, who would not write back, but for now it was a question of pain" (O'Brien 79). We can infer that he wrote the letter to help him heal from the loss of his best friend, but without a response from Curt Lemon's sister, grief overtook him. He was left unanswered and devastated with no comfort from the ongoing war. Eventually the grief overtook him leading to erratic and violent behavior.

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As we are introduced to the main soldiers in the story, O'Brien goes through each individual and lists the items that they had carried with them through the war. Whether it was a personal item or something that they were required to have, each soldier carried something different than the next. In Rat Kiley's case, O'Brien listed the following, "As a medic, Rat Kiley carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&M's for especially bad wounds..." (O'Brien 5). From this information, the audience is now familiar with the role Rat Kiley plays among his platoon as the medic, but it also gives us insight on who he is as a person. The comic books and M&M's are a clear symbol of his childish and innocent nature that he brought along with him to the war.

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As the medic and a young man, there is tremendous pressure on Rat Kiley. He has to attempt to save lives and if he fails to do so, his friends will die right in front of him. When he is presented with a dying Ted Lavender, he is so shocked he cannot believe it, "The guy's dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound-- the guy's dead. I mean really" (O'Brien 13). Uttering the phrase "the guy's dead" over and over again is a clear example of how shocked he is when he witnesses death firsthand and there is nothing he can do about it. Even if his fellow soldiers suffered wounds that not even the best doctors could heal, he would still blame it on himself. Witnessing people like Ted Lavender die in his arms only adds to the pressure already placed on his shoulders by his job.

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As a young man, Rat Kiley is in a position that no young man wishes to find themselves in at such a young age. In his platoon, he is given the job as the medic but is not the serious and hardcore medic that one would think of when it comes to having a job treating life threatening wounds. After one of his platoon members was sent to explore a enemy tunnel and emerged from underground, Rat Kiley says, "Worms, Rat Kiley said. Right out of the grave. Fuckin' Zombie. The men laughed. They all felt great relief".  (O'Brien 12). He was able to diminish the fear from the situation by relaxing the men around him with an immature yet humorous comment. His innocence serves as an escape for the other man as he demonstrates immaturity that provides relief in times that would normally be considered dire.