The Things They Carried Chapter 10, Stockings

Henry Dobbins, though a good man and a good soldier, is not a smart man, and is sometimes driven by superstition. He carries his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck, and sometimes sleeps with them against his face. He thinks they are a good luck charm. And they seem to work: he never gets injured. The other men, who used to make fun of him about it, now believe in the power of those pantyhose. Then his girlfriend dumps him. He thinks about it for a while, then ties the pantyhose around his neck once more and says, "No sweat. The magic doesn't go away." Chapter 10, pg. 118