
Of the over 3.75 million soldiers deployed during the Vietnam War more than 470,000 returned from war with mental disorders such as PTSD. (Leslie Roberts) Being that the Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest wars the United States has ever participated in it is no surprise the atrocities seen and experienced by the soldiers who were there took a huge toll on their mental state. In the short story “The Things They Carry” by Tim O’Brien many if not all of the characters are plagued and haunted by the dark memories of their past which reflects the reality of soldiers that actually served in the military during that time. The ways the characters are portrayed in “The Things They Carry”, directly reflects the tragic reality of many soldiers who experienced traumatic events and witnessed atrocities during the Vietnam War resulting in a great number of soldiers struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

Vietnam was a bloody war which was plagued with many atrocities. Atrocities that included gunning down 20 or more unarmed civilians which included women and children. (M.S.S.) A highly controversial and, at the time, classified operation was the Phoenix Program which was constructed by the CIA to essentially break away at the communist parties attempting to control South Vietnam. The operation it included the kidnapping, torture, and murder of countless civilians who were believed to be essential to the communist infrastructure. (Moïse) In certain situations, the ends may justify the means but not in this case, the barbaric torture and slaughter of civilians proved ineffective to the cause and seemed almost pointless in the end due to its seeming lack of impact on the war. (Moïse) Atrocities like this are what caused so many problems for soldiers, problems like what we see in O’Brien’s story. In the story after Lavender was killed, Cross marched his troops through villages seemingly without rhyme or reason just destroying anything and everything in their path, missions like this reflect the traumatic reality of mindless murders and destruction like what was done in the Phoenix Program. (O’Brien 355) Mental health problems for soldiers can easily be traced back to missions like the ones Cross and his men participated in. The destruction of homes and lives just because a soldier is told to do it took a huge toll on their mental health, this is apparent in the short story and in real life. The traumatic events that soldiers were put through burned memories into their minds, memories that would tear them apart mentally. While many soldiers would return home to their families with minor or no injuries does not mean that they returned unscathed, mentally many returned as walking casualties.

A very common disorder among combat veterans is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. PTSD is a mental disorder which can be traced back to an event or a series of traumatic events which cause a person to have disturbing thoughts and dreams and can cause physical and mental stress. Due to the horrific nature of the war specifically the Vietnam War many soldiers returned home with the mental burden of combat. “The Things They Carry” exemplifies the idea that soldiers not only carry their own physical burden like gear and weapons but they also carry a mental burden. Throughout the story O’Brien vividly describes every piece of gear that each soldier carries along with the things they carry in their head as if that burden was physical. The idea that each solider carries their own experiences in a way that seems like the experience is an actual object almost normalizes the situation. While not every soldier gets PTSD each soldier is constantly carrying something with them that they hold onto whether it be an M-16 assault rifle, a picture of their girl back home, or the memory of their comrade bleeding out in front of them. Soldiers carry the traumatic events that they went through everywhere they go. They carry the memories of their fallen brothers, the constant thoughts of what if, and for some the idea that a death was their fault. In a study conducted just a few years after the conclusion of the war it was discovered that over 15% of veterans who returned home from Vietnam had some form of PTSD. (Roberts) Soldiers who were “exposed to ‘high warzone stress,’ such as loss of buddies or witnessing or participating in atrocities” are between three and five times more likely to have PTSD than a soldier who was not deployed to an environment such as that. (Roberts) In the story men unloaded their weight in two ways, both physically and metaphorically. Many men would “…throw away rations, blow their Claymores and grenades…” as a way to shed any excess weight that they carried. (O’Brien 335) Men would also unload the mental burden they carried by telling stories as a way to seemingly cope with events. The soldiers under Lt. Cross’s command told the story of Lavender’s death over and over after it happened in such a way that they were almost decompressing and coming to terms with the event so they would not have to carry that mental weight with them just as they shed physical weight. Just like his men Lieutenant Cross struggled heavily with the death of Lavender, but he coped with the death much differently than they did.

A beautiful and tragic example of the tolls the war took on soldiers is the progressive deterioration of Lieutenant Cross’s mental state. At the beginning of the story we are introduced to Lt. Cross, and with his introduction we are introduced to Martha, the dream girl he could never get. In the beginning Martha is a symbol of hope for Cross, she is the light at the end of the tunnel for him, when he needs to decompress from the tension of war he thinks of her, looks at her pictures, or reads notes that she wrote him. Martha was his safe space to get away from the stress of leadership. But as the story progresses Martha begins to plague his thoughts, he would think of her all the time, even when he did not need to and when it was not good for him. She eventually started to make him lose focus. The hysteric flashes of memories are telltale signs of PTSD, these flashes of Martha were early signs of Cross’s struggle with PTSD. Cross begins his struggle with PTSD very soon after Lavender was shot in the head. For many soldiers one traumatic event can break them, this is what happened to Jimmy Cross. Cross seemed to crack after Lavender died, he did not know what to do but he blamed himself and he blamed Martha. When his soldiers would tell the story of how Lavender died, Cross would tremble from the thought of his fallen comrade, this trembling is also a clear sign of Jimmy’s struggle with PTSD. Cross’s mental decline then rise seems to reflect the progression of some cases of PTSD. A traumatic event tore Cross down and destroyed his mental state, then as he sat down and came to terms with what happened he realized his problems and addressed them. The way Cross seemingly treated himself is actually a real way to treat PTSD, it is called memory suppression. The idea of memory suppression is “controlling memories by suppressing sensory aspects of memories.” (Emily Holmes) Cross suppresses the sensory aspects of the memories of Martha by burning the visuals that caused his memories. By burning all the letters from Martha this pushed him in the right direction of recovery. Once Cross burned his memories he was able to focus on his missions and what he was meant to do. 

The harsh reality and struggles of soldiers in Vietnam is exemplified throughout Tim O’Brien’s short story “The Things They Carry”. Soldiers at the time had a great number of things to deal with. They were exposed to high stress and traumatic situations often which led to many problems including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The stress endured by soldiers is exemplified in the main character Lieutenant Jimmy Cross through his deteriorating mental state throughout the story, then his progressive recovery after enduring tragic events. The effects of war are widespread; some people are effected more severely than others. 
