From the first wars, to the wars fought in today’s world, the men whose lives are on the line tend to carry something; A trinket, good luck charm, momentum, just something they can look at, touch, smell, a small reminder of of what they have back home.  They could be a picture, a letter, a coin, just something that these men and women can look at and feel safe with.  A reason for them to keep going.  The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien shows the use of these “things” to help keep the men sane.  Similarly, in Ted Koppel’s “What Soldiers Carry for Good luck, Koppel is using interviews with modern day soldiers fighting in the wars in the middle east to show that even today people carry some object to help keep some sort of light in their life.  While in Veteran’s Inc’s article “Success Story: Roy” they use the example of one man recalling his past in Vietnam and what he use to carry, which ties directly back to O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.  The outside sources use modern day examples and real life situations with actual military men to show the significance of them, and the historical context of what the “things” meant in The Things They Carried.

It is very common for military men and women to carry some sort of item that reminds them of either home, someone they love, or a place they care about.  There are also the cases where they carry good luck charms such as a lucky rabbit’s foot, or a bible, some people even carry lucky rocks or coins.  From military men from ancient Greece, to men now a day, there was always something that they carry.  In the article, What Soldiers Carry for Good Luck, the author Ted Koppel interviews modern day military men, asking them if they have someone special they carry while away, and if they do what is it.  “’I carry a picture of my family,’ Capt. Anthony Nelson.  Standing in the desert sun, tent and tank behind him, Fernando Gonzalez pulls a flat, flowered heart from his left breast pocket, and reads the poem inscribed. “'Love is just a little word, but its meaning is quite clear” (What Soldiers Carry for Good Luck).  Although this article is written in 2003, it shows the significance of these tokens the men and women carry.  These tokens are what helped the men in The Things They Carried to get by and overcome the constant death of their best friends and brothers.  It gives them a bit of hope.  These men, both in the past and modern day keep these to keep sane.  “’..it means that you're in my heart, each day throughout the year,'“ he says. “I keep that in my pocket, just to get me through’” (Success Story: Roy).  With the constant devastation brought to people at war, the idea of keeping these little memories help with the coping process, resulting in less mental problems.  

PTSD is a common mental illness in military men, that results from the constant treat of dying or having one of your best friend or brothers in arms being killed.  The constant gun shots, explosions, or anything that causes fear from the enemy, has an effect of extreme anxiety and fear the can be trigger from certain noises, words, or events.  The mental strain brought upon the soldiers in war is for the most part unbearable, resulting in PTSD in some form, whether it be major or just slightly triggered.  In Success Story: Roy, talking about a veteran who once server in Vietnam, they say “You can’t take a 19-year-old brain and subject it to the constant threat of death or injury by rocket fire and expect it not to be affected” (Success Story: Roy).  Roy was the same eighteen-year-old kid in Vietnam as all the characters in The Things They Carried.  He is Henry Dobbins, or Jimmy Cross, or Mitchell Sanders.  After reading Success Story: Roy, the understand on the real-life events and aftermath of the war that O’Brien is writing about.  The constant bombings, the idea that in Vietnam there isn’t a front and everywhere is danger.  Environments such as Vietnam is the perfect example of what causes PTSD.  Knowing the mental strain that areas like the Vietnam War caused in the men over there allows the reader to look at O’Brien’s words in a more understand manner, because they can feel and imagine what was constantly going on around the men.  The PTSD and mental strain that is brought to soldiers during war is eased with these “things”.  They are ways to get the mind off what exactly is going on around them.  A simple picture of a woman that the nineteen-year-old Roy could have in his pocket could calm him or give him or a soldier like him a sense of good.  Having these items kept them in a good state of mind and when they look at or touched them they always reminded them of what is waiting on them, or why they should keep going.

Understanding that the things these men and women carry are not just things that Tim O’Brien made up to have a good story that people enjoy reading, but a way of coping with the constant threat of death allows the reader to understand the story and change the way it is read from just a good read into a much more serious and understanding read.  The two outside sources, What Soldiers Carry for Good Luck, and Success Story: Roy, both do their part in helping understand why these people carry “things” special to them, and the effects of war that take place mentally for these men and women.  History has proven over and over again that no matter the time in history, soldiers will turn to some sort of “thing” to give them a sense of ease in the land of torture they are living.  PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is also a very serious illness that people who are in these wars face when they return, and even before they return.  Although the things they carry give them a source of familiarity and security, it does not completely easy their mental state.  Military men and women serve in a way that we who are civilians could never understand, and suffer from events that we could never see ourselves in, and deserve the respect of all people they are protecting.  
