For many Americans the Vietnam War was a time in history full of turmoil and distress throughout the world. The United States entered a war that many feel did not involve them. Because of this, the soldiers fighting this war they faced many hardships both physically and mentally. By looking at the tone in "The Things They Carried" along with the metaphor of baggage we can see the negative effects that the Vietnam War had on the soldiers and the lasting effects that went beyond the battleground.

The Vietnam War was the first war that as a veteran there was no pride involved from the American public. Many Americans look back on this war and believe that we never should have entered the war not only due to the fact of all the young lives we were putting on the line, but going to a part of the world with a much different way of fighting and living. Many of the young men that were sent off to war did not have a choice, but instead they were drafted. This draft took thousands of young men from their homes and sent them overseas to a country we had no authority or will to be in. Americans were dealing with a ruthless Vietnamese side that used booby traps and land mines as well as villagers to protect themselves from American fire. These traps caused many casualties on the side of the Americans. Along with these traps and mines, there was also toxic bombs dropped that caused even more casualties and had many lasting effects on soldiers health. At this stage of the war, "Americans began to view all Vietnamese soldiers and civilians as the enemy and as racially inferior." (Josh Hoshegan) This caused Americans to be tied into the killing of civilians and children who were being used as booby traps. Television and radio became extremely popular during this time, however this all happened at maybe the wrong time. Now that everyone in America began to watch the television, they began to see Americans being portrayed as these brutal, vicious soldiers who had no regard for civilian life. Due to this, and the fact that we had no chance in winning the war from the start, as well as the fact that much of America believed our country had no place in fighting these people, pride was not present in the minds of the soldiers, as well as all of the supporting Americans back home. 

What people do not realize about the war is the fact that the soldiers are not only affected mentally when they are doing the actual fighting, but maybe even worse when they return home. Soldiers were looked down upon for returning from war. These veterans suffered lasting effects on top of the disappointment from American citizens for being involved in the war. "You feel on edge. Nightmares keep coming back. Sudden noises make you jump."(John Ward) Taking a young brain and subjecting it to the constant threat of being killed, along with rocket and artillery fire constantly over your head, soon enough you will have enough. The Vietnam War really brought the term "PTSD" to the surface. This term stands for "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder". This basically means that once a veteran returns home from a very stressful situation they are continuously stressed and worried that there is someone or something out there either trying to hurt them or kill them. Sometime for war veterans it is said that they hear explosions or gunshots at random times, obviously a stress builder. PTSD was like the soldier's luggage and baggage like things that they were carrying, just like in "The Things They Carried".  Only unlike in "The Things They Carried", this baggage weighed heavy when they returned from war. It can be viewed as a physical fear that haunts you when you are actually in the battlefield fighting for your life, and a mental fear that will haunt you the rest of your life. The men in "The Things They Carried" all carried both a literal luggage with them such as letters from home, marijuana, or there guns, however the fear that they carried with them is one that they can not only forget about when they are on duty, but it is something that will haunt them the rest of their lives. Veterans from Vietnam are highly affected from PTSD and struggle with the harsh reality of the obstacles they had to endure in Vietnam. Relating to the title of the book, "The Things They Carried", this speaks of a burden that Tim and his men carried with them not only literally, but also mentally with them the rest of their lives. One of the men carried the underwear of his girlfriend in the story, this can be shown to represent the love and comfort that he longs for from her, a love and comfort that he may see again, or he may not. It is these things that the men carry with them in a literal example. Looking more in depth at the actual book "The Things They Carried" at the end of the story one of the men commits suicide due to the fact that he never forgives himself for the death of one of his fellow partners. This example links with PTSD show that the war had effects on the soldiers, something that us as civilians looking in on will never understand truly what they went through. 

Comparing "The Things They Carried" and the actual Vietnam War is quite easy. In the book, the men Tim O'Brian writes about are all affected by the war in different ways, whether it is being killed in action, or being pulled away from there families for an extended time. On top of any of these being effected after the war by either PTSD or guilt. People that know anything about the Vietnam War know that it was a time in history that Americans shy away from. "The Vietnam War was a long, costly-armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies." (Josh Hoshegan) As seen from this online quote you can see that the war was viewed very negatively by the United States, "a war that we should have never entered." Tim O'Brian portrays the tone of "The Things They Carried" in many different ways. "The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later."(Josh Hoshegan) The use of this quote is to show that the American people were not the only people that did not want to be at war with this hopeless communist nation. Tim and all of his men bring along a lot of items that will remind them of home, being the literal things that they carried. When talking about the actual war itself he jumps around from emotional, to very straight shooting. The use of these two tones is very effective to the reader because there is going to be a previous knowledge of the Vietnam War, and along with the actual story, the reader is given a viewpoint of a solider that is actually involved in the war. Seeing the tone that O'Brian writes his story in is an indicator of how the war was from a personal standpoint. Seeing the amount of emotion that was poured into the writing, and the in depth. This tone allows the reader to dive in and get an idea for the struggles that the soldiers had to deal with and are still dealing with.

This baggage that is talked about so often in "The Things They Carried" is both a mental and physical baggage. Regardless of the fact that a man is a veteran of war or not does not mean that he is affected not as badly or differently. Although the war is done, the soldiers will always have weight on their shoulders for the things that happened in the war. Thousands were killed, thousands were wounded, and thousands live with guilt each and every day of the war. Everyone carries baggage differently, but by looking at "The Things They Carried" along with research about the Vietnam War, it is easy to see the negative and lasting effects that this war had on these soldiers. 
