All of the boys feel the looming presence of the war and their pressure to take part in it. Most of them still view it as a way to fame and glory, rather than the reality of what it really is. All of the boast about running off to join the war, but only Leper really does. Leper ends up going insane as a result of the horrors that he experiences on the battlefield. Gene joins the war after graduation, partly out of guilt for what he did to Finny. It also changes him, but in a good way in some respscts as it matures him and he's able to face what he did to Finny and to share that with him.
