In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien shows how soldiers in the Vietnam War not only carry heavy physical loads, but also carry even heavier emotional loads. In this essay I will be examining how the Vietnam War affected soldiers and how they responded to the war. I chose this particular essay because veteran’s day is coming up and it made me think of all the brave men and women of our country who sacrificed so much in this war, even if they didn’t agree with it. 

The beginning of this passage in the Carolina Reader starts off by introducing Jimmy Cross. Cross is a lieutenant who is in charge of a small group of men. Their job is to move from village to village destroying everything in their path. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries letters from a college girl named Martha who he is in love with. However, the Martha doesn’t love him and this constantly distracts him. While he is distracted, thinking about Martha, one of his men, Ted Lavender, was shot dead while using the bathroom. Cross blames himself for Ted Lavender’s death and cannot escape the guilt. Due to this guilt he begins to forget about Martha and starts focusing on his squad. I believe this change in the way Lieutenant Jimmy Cross leads his squad portrays the transition from innocence to adulthood.

In the Vietnam War the United States of America military relied on the draft to get troops to fight. Because of this many of the soldiers were young (18-30), inexperienced, and innocent in terms of war. A lot of the soldiers did not even agree with what they were fighting for, but they fought anyway to avoid legal repercussions, dishonor, and just because everyone else their age was doing the same thing. These young soldiers were soon exposed to things that basic training could have never prepared them for: violence, death, and total chaos. To cope with the hardships of war these young soldiers would do various things to distract them and keep their hopes up. Some chose to carry along physical good luck charms such as a cross or bible, pictures of their loved ones, or reminders of their life back home. Some men chose to distract themselves by using marijuana and other drugs. Vietnam had the highest rate of drug use in any United States war in history. This fact can be attributed to the drug filled culture of the 1960s and the large supply of narcotics in Vietnam at the time of the war. Some soldiers chose to distract themselves from the war by constantly thinking about loved ones like Jimmy Cross. No matter how they did it almost all soldiers found some way to distract themselves from the hardships of war. The Things They Carried does a great job of showing the various ways in which soldiers would distract themselves with physical objects and psychological thoughts. 

The Vietnam War was so stressful on the soldiers that they would rely on various forms of distraction to keep their sanity and hopes up. The Things They Carried shows how soldiers carry good luck charms, use drugs, and daydream to distract themselves from the fear of injury and death.  