
With the new president of America, it’s hard to imagine what is going to happen in the United States over the next 4 years. One big fear in American’s minds is our country’s relationships with foreign nations. A plethora of American’s tremble at the thought of getting into another pointless war of mass destruction. What sparked the fear of war in Americans was witnessing the effects the Vietnam War had on our country. Not only did we lose an estimated 64,000 allied soldiers but the physical, emotional, and mental scars on those who survived left some men as good as dead. The story The Things They Carried comes from the author Tim O’Brien, a survivor of the Vietnam War. He describes in vivid detail as he recounts the tragic memories he and his comrades experienced. The Vietnam War took place from (1954-1975) and is still regarded as one of Americas most controversial wars. It made citizens question if our involvement in other country’s affairs was worth drafting thousands of our young men to be trained and thrown into a killing zone. When the war finally finished, and our broken and battered soldiers came home, there was little to no understanding about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  PTSD is a disorder that develops in people who have experienced a traumatic event. Many soldiers who returned home from Vietnam suffered from this condition. Understanding the divide the Vietnam War created between Americans combined with the current knowledge of PTSD and its effects gives a better understanding of the story The Things They Carried because the reader gains insight of how the soldiers felt after traumatic events.

Tim O’Brien, the author of the novel describes the hellish and stressful life in Vietnam and how soldiers tried to cope with it. He explains the long days of marching, inconsistent weather, and the anxiety of walking through trip mined pathways while carrying not only heavy tangible survival equipment, but also intangible things that add a different type of weight. This was typical soldier life. The stress was so strong that every member of the company carried something to alleviate the stress of their livelihood. For example, one character Ted Lavender, had horrific anxiety so he carried tranquilizers and 6-7 ounces of premium dope while another character Kiowa, a devout Baptist carried a copy of the New Testament (O’Brien 329). However company First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ thing carried was a girl back home who he was in love with named Martha. Cross’ mind was filled with Martha every single day. He is madly in love with her and cannot control himself from thinking about her. This obsession of Martha distracts the First Lieutenant from doing his job properly, inevitably leading to the death of Ted Lavender. This event seems to shake Cross as he feels personally responsible for Ted’s death because he let Martha get in the way of his job at hand. Ted’s traumatic death made the group of soldiers depressed as they attempted to cope with it.  It gets to the point where morale is so low that everyone wants to leave and some soldiers would even “shoot off their finger” (339) so they had an excuse to leave Vietnam. O’Brien's novel gives the reader a different, yet insightful look at soldier life and their perception of the war.  

The American soldiers did not want to be in Vietnam. This is not the image of war or its soldiers that most people picture in their head. It shows the magnitude of stress that these soldiers were under. There tends to be a stereotype of masculinity around war and war veterans not lovestruck little boys only caring about things back home and hopefully returning there soon, doing whatever they can to leave Vietnam. This is not the case in The Things They Carried. The reader sees young boys terrified and miserable everyday of their lives trying to escape their nightmarish reality. These men did not want to be in Vietnam, some of them came, “because they were embarrassed not to…nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor” (339) proving that the men were not there because they wanted to or enlisted but because of the shame that would come if they did not. The stayed, because they did not have a choice.

The United States involvement in the Vietnam War also caused civil unrest between American citizens. In Economic and Political Weekly magazine’s an article called Vietnam War and US: Haunting Legacy was published on the anniversary month of the Vietnam War addressing the legacy of the war and how the controversies around America’s involvement still remain today. The article focused on a former Vietnam War squad leader and current democratic senator Bob Kerrey who has been accused of murdering over 20 innocent unarmed Vietnamese civilians during his time in the war (M.S.S). Now nearly 3 decades later, with this claim being brought to light for the first time Kerrey and the rest of his squad are being interviewed and forced to recount the horrors they not only saw in Vietnam, but played a part of over 30 years ago. The article goes on to discuss that the resurfacing of horrific events seems to refuel the fire for those who were and still are protesters of the Vietnam war. It just goes to show that this debate will never seem to go away and the Vietnam War will always be a topic of deep controversy in America’s history.  

One noteworthy connection between Tim O’Briens The Things They Carried and the article from Economic and Political Weekly is the fact that in both readings, veterans of the war have a lot guilt, anxiety and fears still built up inside them decades after the war has past and that it has never been released and both articles show the effects it had on the soldiers. O’Brien, a veteran of the war stayed silent for a long time after the war but eventually turned to writing as his way of overcoming the traumatic experiences he faced in Vietnam. While the magazine article told the story of Bob Kerrey and his squad from the Vietnam War. Allegedly the group murdered 20 innocent Vietnamese men, women and children who were unarmed and then proceeded to lie about it. Now after 32 years of silence the story is slowing starting to be revealed. Kerrey’s soldiers most likely kept their mouth shut about what they did in Vietnam because of how controversial of a topic the war already was. Since the Vietnam War was already a fragile subject among Americans, Kerry’s men feared what greater controversies would spread if the truth of what they did in Vietnam spilled to the public. This inability to vent or confess what they saw or did during the war had traumatic effects of PTSD on the young veterans and many of them struggled to transition into normal life after the war. Similar to those in the Things They Carried who struggled to continue with the war after experiencing the traumatic death of Ted Lavender.

The article titled “Understanding PTSD” coauthored by Stephen Xenakis and Matthew J Friedman is dedicated to fixing some misconceptions that the general public has about PTSD. Friedman writes that PTSD is mostly caused by social and political factors. Suicide, homelessness, and unemployment all attest to this claim. To help fight the war against PTSD, seeking to find veterans jobs and raising their quality of life should be the top priority. Friedman says the best form of medicine would be programs for disability compensation and providing benefits for employment. Then in Xenakis’ half of the article, he echoed what Friedman’s main points were but then added how he felt discouraged that there are a lot of veterans out there thinking they are struggling with a disease that is not treatable. Many clinics fail to recognize what the real problem is so when they attempt to heal PTSD patients but many times their solutions typically don't cure them (Xenakis). The article here shows the importance of raising awareness of PTSD to eliminate misconceptions about the disease. The articles statement that financial and social issues are the main causes of PTSD (Xenakis). This means its more on politicians and non veterans for not creating a safer plan for veterans once they return home. The unstableness and not being able to find a job is what enhances PTSD. Society and culture needs to better prepare and inform themselves on the causes and more importantly the solutions of PTSD so this can be properly treated so retired veterans like Tim O’Brien and his friends do not have to struggle with how to cope with the traumatic events the soldier faces during the war. 

With the knowledge available today about PTSD, along with understanding the divide caused by United States involvement in Vietnam, readers can better understand soldier’s emotional and physical baggage that they carried during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial events in American history, the country split in half with those for and against the war. Protests, riots and peace rallies swept the nation throughout this decade. Even the soldiers did not care about winning the war as much as they cared about coming home. The scarring of the war made the PTSD so prevalent in returning soldiers that a lot of them never recovered fully. Even for the soldiers who did not lose their lives, part of them died in Vietnam. The Vietnam War will be one that Americans try to forget, but will always remember.
