I think the psychological effect of combat played a role in how Sgt. Price carried out the "taking care" of his dog as well as some underling signs of the omertà the combat veterans follow. On his way home from his tour he's constantly thinking about the events that happen while he was in country. One thing that I think stuck out was when he saw his XO slit the throat of a dying insurgent and he made the comparison of his XO to a PFC, meaning that's something someone who doesn't know better would do. I think he definitely knows right from wrong, so I think ruling out that he's crazy would be a good choice on making his decision to kill his dog with two shots to the chest and one to the head. Sgt. Price loved Vicar as he would a brother and didn't want him to suffer. I think thats the main reason he didn't want the vet to put his hands on his dog fearing the in the process of putting him down he could suffer or do the "death rattle" as he put it. He opens the story with "WE SHOT DOGS. Not by accident. We did it on purpose..." (Redeployment), that statement shows that killing a dog wasn't something he wasn't familiar with and he could do it, in a professional manner if he had to. The fact that Sgt. Price was still in "orange" upon his return didn't help much in trying to accept any other rational way of letting go of something he'd cared about so much. "Here's what orange is. You don't see or hear like you use to." I think there's also symbolism in him killing Vicar as if to say a part of who he used to be as an normal person living life in the "white" is now gone.
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