Growing up, we're all taught to respect our war veterans and, as a result, we look up to them as the heroes they are. But when we ask others why, especially when we are young and adults don't want to tell the brutal truth of war, we are directed towards associating an American soldier with courage and bravery. This mindset carries with us throughout life, which results in the average person not questioning why soldiers are such brave individuals. As many wars as this country has endured, this way of thinking has never changed through centuries of hardships. In the 1960s, this concept is enforced even more because for the first time in history, the American public could see what was going on during the Vietnam War when they turned on the television. The ideologies of war in the 1960s was to make soldiers show no fear and have them perceived as having no emotion, and create a one-sided environment in war to keep people loyal to their country.

Soldiers, who were generally recruited as teenagers and young adults, were encouraged to keep up the typical image of being courageous and to be willing to give up everything they have in order to better their country. As we see in 'A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,' a young man has to leave behind his wife and unborn child to fight for the war, and ends up living in New Orleans without ever seeing his loved ones again. The main character tells his son, "You were in your mother's womb when the North of our country took over the South and some of those who fought the war found themselves running away. I did not choose to run, not with you ready to enter this world. I did not choose to leave my homeland and become an American." (Butler, 103) On the other hand, soldiers also carried the burden of leaving their families back at home with them while carrying out their duties, which is what we see in 'The Things They Carried.' Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the main character, struggles with carrying the weight of leaving behind his love interest, Martha, while he is at war. He oftentimes thought of her while doing what was necessary to fight for the war. "Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin." (O'Brien, 304)

The immense stress that these soldiers carried not only took a toll on their mental health, but their effectiveness in wartime performance. Because of this, drugs were given to soldiers in order to numb themselves from their surroundings and forget about their fears. This practically gave them no other choice than put on their bravest face and act the part of the courageous solider in battle, or at least what the general public believes is all there is to being a soldier. Giving pills and tranquilizers did not help the soldiers, though, if anything it endangered their lives. In 'The Things They Carried', Lavender who is a soldier under Lieutenant Cross' watch, gets shot because he was so unaware of his surroundings.  "Ted Lavender popped a tranquilizer and went off to pee ...  right then Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing. He lay with his mouth open." (O'Brien, 309)

Distraction was the number one thing that kept these soldiers getting through their tasks. Otherwise, they would have to face the reality of the slaughter they were surrounded with, something no human being should have to have to manage. In 'The Things They Carried", Lieutenant Jimmy Cross uses Martha as his distraction. "Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore. They were pressed together, and the pebble in his mouth was her tongue. He was smiling." (O'Brien, 308) Ultimately, using Martha as a distraction keeps his mind away from what is happening in war. He believes this is why Ted Lavender died, and so now he must carry yet another weight with him  --  the weight of a man's life.

After fighting for their lives and the lives of others, soldiers are expected to come back into their normal society and transition back into their normal lives. This is why we see that many soldiers come back from war with severe PTSD, where even the simplest of things can trigger them to go back into the 'war mode' they were trained to possess. Living in fear for the rest of their life is not something that someone so devoted should have to deal with. Society has put these walls up, though, that they are supposed to come home and maintain their warrior status. This concept has been around for ages, but it is something we have never really strayed away from as a whole. Soldiers believe that they are supposed to remain fearless as they were when they were fighting, so they never truly get to deal with the problems they are left with. A vicious cycle such as this is why we hear of horrific suicides from veterans who cannot handle their lives anymore.

Countries that are involved in war also only want their people to have a one-sided view on fighting, which is whatever that country is fighting for. Officials will go to the extreme to make the other country look like the villain in a situation just to keep the masses entertained. We are oftentimes blinded individuals because we only receive information that is allowed. It is also a combination of people being stuck in their ways of thinking, and not wanting to be understanding to others and what they believe. The combination of the two make it easy for citizens on the home front to not be fully informed on what they are fighting for, therefore they will advocate for their country to fight. It becomes easy for them to forget that they are throwing their own people into a foreign land to fend for themselves, because it doesn't first-handedly affect the majority of the population.

A country at war's main interest is protecting their own people, which also makes them susceptible to making decisions that would normally be deemed as inhuman. A growing interest for a specific group of people and not people as a whole is the very root of terrorism, which is supposed to be something we are all against. However, people tend to believe that dropping bombs and raiding villages of innocent people is okay, because there's a war to justify it. This corrupt mindset only leaves the human race with one thing, more damaged people.

Naturally, one would think that a soldier of all people would testify against joining in the war effort again, but usually they are also advocating for war. The social structure of society encourages people to transfer being a soldier as a strong and masculine character. As a result, young men who have barely reached adulthood are eager to sign their name on the dotted line to join the effort as well, because they want the honor of being a soldier, but in reality they have no clue what they are getting into. Previous war veterans also join in on the war efforts not only to maintain their courageous status, but because some of them feel as if they have nothing left to lose. 

Although this concept cannot explain the ideologies of all soldiers in war, there is one trait every soldier possesses  --  the desire to protect their loved ones. They choose to not tell their families of the hardships of war not only because they are afraid of losing their image, but because they love others so much, they cannot place the burden onto another. Soldiers are trained to carry the weight of their country, and even though they don't get nearly the credit they deserve, soldiers will continue to fight for what they hold closest to their hearts.

