Post traumatic stress disorder or ptsd, is a mental disorder that can forever alter a person’s life. It has been proven through history that the horrid events that occur during war have led to many veterans suffering from this disorder. Even with the mass of people who are diagnosed with it each year, not nearly enough is done in response. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is greatly impacted by ptsd and represents the situations soldiers who suffer from it experienced very well.

In the first chapter, the author introduces a man named Jimmy Cross. Cross was a First Lieutenant in charge of a unit of men in the Vietnam War. Jimmy Cross should be a man on high alert, always worried about what was going to happen next, instead he was preoccupied with the thought of a woman named Martha. In a situation of war there is no room for emotion as that could lead to bad decisions, but at the end of the day, every soldier is only human. Everyone was just hoping to get home and the hope of getting to see a loved one again was enough for some to stave off the bad feelings that war brought about. As a veteran corpsman of the Vietnam War Mike A. said “We all knew what the other was thinking. Some of us would be going home in body bags.” This fear of death left a constant stress of each and every person. O’Brien makes it a point that every soldier's had belongings to hold onto as a way to show that this fear was a very normal and real thing. As one could imagine, this stress was a key factor in the development of many soldier’s ptsd.

Another way “The Things They Carried” shows the constant strain the soldier went through was with the things they actually carried :

“The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, depending upon a man's habits or rate of metabolism. ” (The Carolina Reader, 328)

The great detail he uses is there to show the mass amount of things that the soldiers were required to carry. The idea that each person would always have to carry around fifteen or more pounds through forests, marshes, and fields makes it understandable that every person would be extremely fatigued. From research made by Sterling and Eyer, the term allostasis was coined. This is the actions the human mind takes to relieve stress. “The cumulative load of the allostatic process is the allostatic load. The pathological side effects of failed adaptation are the allostatic overload. Overload can often lead to the breakdown of regulator capacities.” If every person was under constant fatigue, their baseline of stress would instantly become much higher as fatigue greatly increases stress. This caused each and every person to be much more susceptible to allostatic overload which could then lead to ptsd.

In addition to the stress gained from fear on the battlefield and fatigue caused by the things they carried, many soldiers also adopted unconventional means to cope with stress. As stated in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Combat-caused PTSD is often associated with other psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety … and drug abuse.” Many soldiers in the Vietnam War suffered from underlying psychiatric disorders which left them much more susceptible to ptsd and much more vulnerable in the dangerous environment that war poses. In “The Things They Carried”, a man named Ted Lavender is introduced. Lavender was a grunt who suffered from what seemed to be an anxiety disorder. He was always on edge with fear and this led to him using unsafe methods to cope with his fear. Wherever he went he always carried twenty pounds of extra ammo. This added to the already heavy load only making it harder. He also carried with him tranquilizers and dope. These two drugs were used by Lavender to cope with his fear. This was not an uncommon thing to see during war, many soldiers used drugs to get their minds off of their current situation. The issue, however, lies in the problem that drug abuse brings. Drug abuse is a psychological addiction that like any other mental disorder can leave a person more vulnerable to ptsd. The highs and lows would cause often and drastic changes of state that would add to this “allostatic load”.

While ptsd is often caused by the intense stress of war. It can also be brought about and compounded upon by guilt. “After the chopper took Lavender away, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross led his men into the village of Than Khe. They burned everything. They shot chickens and dogs, they trashed the village well, they called in artillery and watched the wreckage.” (The Carolina Reader, 336) In this excerpt from “The Things They Carried” it is show how the group of soldiers is led to a small defenseless village where they destroy everything. As Mike A. said “I've been dealing with this for decades. It’s called ‘survivor's guilt,’ a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder.” It is well known that the majority of people who suffered from ptsd experienced death and dead bodies. Every soldier who made it out of Vietnam not only had to witness those around them die, but many even had to kill other people. The feelings of knowing that they lived when someone else died led many of them to experience this “survivor’s guilt”. O’Brien made sure to explain the destruction of this village to show the scenes the soldiers were made to bear witness to. The events they would be forced to live with for the rest of their lives, just as Mike A. had to live with it. 

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien is a graphic story written by a man who lived through the Vietnam War. O’Briens experiences during the war and struggles after it are shown to have a great influence on this piece. The details of what happened in the story are made to show how the effect war can actually have on the brain. It is important to understand what ptsd and the history of it in war as it sheds a new light on O’Brien’s work. It helps the reader understand the main message. War is a terrible thing that even hurts those who made it out alive. Veterans need to be taken care of after the trials they have been put through. If their struggles are left ignored, we will have taken advantage of the sacrifices they made for each and every one of us.
