
The outside sources give the reader a real life connection between the Vietnam war and something they can relate to.  The article gives a similar personal story that the text may be harder for the reader to understand, the sources shine light on the real experiences.  The sources can make some people realize what goes on in war and what people deal with afterward such as PTSD and many more problems associated with war.

The Vietnam was one of the longest most brutal wars, nearly one and a half million Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodian lives were lost.  Think about who killed them, Americans, and they have to deal with that the rest of their lives.  Some kills were less brutal than others, ranging from a bombing of thousands to a more personal hand to hand combat or stabbing.  Even shooting another human being is tragic and mentally challenging, both texts really capture the impact it has on you mentally.  War is so tricky because you’re just sent out into the field and expected to kill random other humans because they are the “enemy” no matter what you tell yourself, its never right.  In the article, by Karl Marlantes, he talks about convincing yourself and how important that is to stay sane.  If you keep telling yourself its fine that you are killing all these people you’re going to end up believing it.  The only problems with that is, you have to deal with the consequences later because it catches back up to you.  You start thinking about all of the men you killed all over again, when you don’t want to, you still do. This is basically a version of PTSD, thinking about the tragic moments when you don’t want to, they just subconsciously pop into your head.  This is even in the text but may be hard for the reader to understand exactly what the writer is trying to convey and the second source from the article really shines another spotlight on it.

The text, the things they carried, and the article both touch on the same problems giving the reader a better feel and understanding for the piece.  When an audience or reader has multiple sources its easier to understand the meaning that they are trying to get across.  This article is very closely tied to “The things they carried” it relates directly to the same war, and similar problems.  They both compare the struggles of war and how there are a lot of hidden things that most people don’t’ know about.  A lot of scenes in the things they carried are similar to this real life story by Marlentes.  The moral aspect that both of these stories really touched me because I never really thought of it that way before.

A good way to keep the audience involved and understanding is to give them two examples of what you’re talking about.  Both pieces describe the war and how it effects each soldier on a deeper and personal level.  These pieces are really special to me and I appreciate the work these writers do because it must be difficult for them to talk about their experiences.  