During the Vietnam War the United States found themselves in a position full of turmoil and distress. The United States entered a war that many feel did not involve them. Because of this, the soldiers fighting this war faced many hardships both physically and mentally. These hardships were not ones that were just faced on the battlefield, but ones that would be felt mentally for the rest of their lives. 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 the American public did not display their pride for the soldiers overseas. Vietnam was the first major war that we as a country lost, so for the first time in our countries history the returning soldiers coming home were not considered heroes. Many Americans look back on this war and believe that we never should have entered the war due to the fact that we were putting so many young lives on the line. Many of the young men that were sent off to war did not have a choice, because 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 background in. Americans were dealing with a ruthless Vietnamese side that used guerilla warfare tactics such as booby traps and land mines. This ruthless foe also used its own natives as weapons; a common example is a young child or a woman having explosives strapped to their chest. These traps caused many casualties on both the American and Vietnamese side. Between these traps and mines there were also toxic bombs that had a much different effect on American soldiers and their future 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. During this time television was becoming extremely popular, this meant that the fighting being done overseas was being seen in American households. This disturbing guerilla warfare that was happening overseas was now being seen by millions of Americans back home, portraying our soldiers as these savages who had to regard for civilian life. For the first time people back home could see with their eyes the tragedies that American soldiers were involved in.

What people do not realize about the war is the fact that the soldiers are not only affected mentally during the actual fighting, but maybe even worse when they return home. "PTSD develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm"(Mike Wallace "NIH"). 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. Sometimes 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 their 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, showing that the war had effects on the soldiers, something that us as civilians will never understand unless we were to endure and experience the tragedies of the war. 

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. Whether the 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. Despite being home and it being nearly 50 years since the war, the effects are still carried with them each and every day. The memories never fade of the hardships these soldiers endured. 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.
