  
The Vietnam war, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a long fought, expensive, and unpopular war in which many Americans lost their lives. Just like in any war, the soldiers fighting on the ground experience horrific sights, which led to many of them developing mental problems. Upon the soldiers return home, their problems would continue and be diagnosis as Post-Traumatic stress disorder. In O’Brien’s excerpt from The Things They Carried, we meet a group of soldiers fighting an atrocious and gruesome war, which instills both fear and paranoia in the combatants. The experiences these men faced and the emotions that followed would later become the underlying source for Post-traumatic stress disorder for many soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war.

Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, was a relevant issue for soldiers return from combat during the Vietnam war. PTSD can develop after great shock or fear, or after experiencing a dangerous event (NIMH). During battle soldiers witness many things which either shock them or scar them mentally. A fellow solider getting shot or bombs being dropped danger close can cause a solider to freeze up with fear. That’s why thousands of soldiers return home traumatized and mentally scarred. According to Elizabeth Norman, 500000 to 700000 of some 2.8 million soldiers returned from Vietnam with some sort of post-traumatic stress (1696).  Common symptoms for these soldiers are nightmares of being pursed, getting shot, or witnessing a friends die. Anxiety, depression, constant fear, and spilt personality are also common. Veterans that devolved PTSD are also descried to have a “numbness to war”. In B. Bower’s article, he says that the veterans must suppress their solider self and “keep the tiger in its cage” (197). These soldiers had to adapt to fast pace fight or flight lifestyle of war and they developed habits and reactions that are suited for war. Once they return home however, they must cage up their old combat personality, which for many solider dealing with PTSD, becomes a problem. 

The things soldiers live through on a daily basis during war is the causation for Post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans. Soldiers witness horrific deaths and are always under constant fear of attack. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien mentions how soldiers carry steel, nylon covered flat jackets due to the fact that the land they were on was covered with mines and booby-traps (O’Brien 329). Walking around with the knowledge that the next step one takes could be a mine puts an extreme amount of stress on soldiers. O’Brien later describes a situation where the soldiers must inspect and search through tunnels. He describes the feelings of fear as one crawls through dark holes with only a flash light wondering if rats will attack him. He says how he would worry whether or not his platoon would hear him if he were to scream. This fear of the unknown is recurring across many soldiers and as Tim O’Brien said, “Imagination was a killer” (O’Brien 333).  Along with the fear of danger, soldiers experienced life threating attacks often. “By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost” (O’Brien 335). Solider were always in the presents of danger. O’Brien describes how during the day he lived through gunfights and at night they slept through bombs and mortars. For Tim, this was an endless march with no purpose. It was living with fear and death without any hope of it ever ending. This is how soldiers felt about the war they were fighting and dying for. These experiences and emotions led to many mental issues and traumatic dreams once they returned home.

A common early symptom of PTSD was constant fear and anxiety. In The Things They Carried, these symptoms are seen in Tim’s fellow soldier, Ted Lavender. Ted was described as always being afraid. Whenever O’Brien mentions him he states that Ted was scared (O’Brien 330 328). What O’Brien describes as “scared” is actually Teds hyper alertness. According to Norman, hyper alertness and anxiety reactions are common symptoms of veterans (1696). Ted was always prepared for the worse since he was always scared and alert. He carried extra ammunition, flat jacket, tranquilizers and other drugs in order to feel safe. Ted smoked dope and took tranquilizers to calm himself down and get away from the fear. O’Brien says he also carries “unweighted fear” with him (O’Brien 330). This unweighted fear is what causes him to use drugs and over pack. He is filled with fear and anxiety which are early signs of Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Other signs of Post-traumatic stress disorder are recurring nightmares and feelings of guilt. Elizabeth Norman states that’s many veterans have repeated dreams of specific traumatic events (1696). A brutal death or an ear deafening bombing are experiences which could cause these dreams. In The Things They Carried, one the soldiers, Kiowa, experiences such nightmares due to a fellow soldier’s death. Kiowa witnessed Ted Lavender get shot in the head. He describes it as “watching a rock fall, or a big sandbag or something – just boom, then down” (O’Brien 330). Watching Ted died right in front of his eyes gets engraved into Kiowa brain. At night Kiowa explained to his fellow soldiers how fast Ted’s death was. He says “boom-down” to describe the lifeless, un-twitching fall of Ted lavender. Kiowa beings to constantly dream about “boom-down” and can’t sleep without it crossing his mind: 

Kiowa admired Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s capacity for grief. He wanted to share the man’s pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy cross cared. And yet when he closed his eyes, all he could think was Boom-down. (O’Brien 337)

While Kiowa was dealing with nightmares over Ted’s death, Jimmy Cross was dealing with the guilty of letting him die. Jimmy believed that his love for Martha over his soldiers was the blame for Ted’s death. “Lieutenant Cross felt the pain. He blamed himself” (O’Brien 330).  Cross began to grief and show signs of depression. According to Norman, his depression is caused by “guilt evoked by death”, which she states many veterans experience due to the death of a friend (1696). Ted’s death causes Jimmy Cross to blame himself and drive himself into a depressed state. The nightmares experience by Kiowa and the guilty and depression that arose within Jimmy are yet more symptoms that many soldiers dealt with due to PTSD.

Along with the other symptoms of PTSD, a common theme among veterans was paranoia and emotional detachment. According to Bower, PTSD is classified as an anxiety disorder which results in traumatic flashbacks, emotional detachment, and numbness to the external world (197).  This emotional detachment is present in The Things They Carried with a few of Tim’s fellow soldiers. One day, Mitchell Sander, Norman Bowker, and Henry Dobbins came across a dead Vietcong child. The boy was 15 years old and Mitchell cut off his finger and gave it to Bowker as a “good luck charm”.  Many of soldiers carried luck charms due to their paranoia of death but the lack of care for the child solider was the most shocking. Henry was asked what the moral was and his response was, “I don’t see no moral. There it is, man. Fuck off” (O’Brien 334). They have lost any moral conscience they once had. Harden to war, these mean have become so emotionally detached that a dead child won’t faze them. This detachment is a clear sign of PTSD and many veterans return home with this same problem.

Post-Traumatic stress disorder was a large problem among veterans returning from Vietnam. Soldiers experienced awful things during war that caused them to develop mental problems. They witnessed horrific deaths, bombings, destruction, and lived every day in fear of death. All this placed tons of stress and traumatized many of the soldiers leading to PTSD. Symptoms that the soldiers dealt with where constant nightmares of death or battle, anxiety, depression, fear, and spilt personality. With Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, we notice some of the symptoms of PTSD within the soldiers. Ted Lavender was descried to always be scared and he carried more supplies than need for protection. Ted used drugs in order to help his problem of fear and anxiety. Kiowa witnessed Ted’s death and had recurring nightmares about it. These are just a few examples of Post-traumatic stress disorder. Thousands of veterans returning from war experienced the same things O’Brien’s unit did, and they come home dealing with the same mental issues of PTSD.
 