
The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest wars that the United States of America has to date. It had a great impact on soldiers, their families, and the people watching the war happen from home. Part of the reason for this was the unwilling and inexperienced soldiers that fought in Vietnam. During this war the draft was implemented, which gave males who weren't in college a number between 1-366, one being the most likely to be drafted and 366 the least likely. Citation? where did you get this info? This forced men to go to war in a foreign country that they had never had plans on being a part of. Included in this group of men was Tim O’Brien, the writer of The Things They Carried. The affect that the war had on soldiers and their families is shown throughout this fiction novel. Soldiers would pray to return to their loved ones and would do anything to keep them in their memories, hoping that it would keep them sane and prevent PTSD. in the novel or in the actual war? Be specific with your references. The brutality of the Vietnam War and how it affected the soldiers and their families shaped the text and the actions of the characters in O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried. Remember that this paper is not a close reading of the novel, but rather a cultural analysis on PTSD and the war. You might phrase your thesis in a way that presents O'Brien's book as a frame of reference for understanding the brutality of the war and its impacts on soldiers – the book is a lens for the social issue. 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disease that affected many of the Vietnam soldiers during the war, which can causes flashbacks or anxiety after they returned from the war.  In O’Brien’s book, he talks about the emotional baggage that the soldiers carried. “Grief, terror, love, and longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, the had tangible weight” (O’Brien). The words grief and terror in this quote shows the kinds of things that the soldiers went through that contributed to their PTSD after the war. All of the brutality that these young men saw stuck with them and caused these flashbacks. Say more about 'intangibles' in O'Brien's quote and express how this quote specifically is a good frame of reference for PTSD/mental illness caused by trauma. This paragraph is a bit underdeveloped. 

Exposure to such horror as a person who had no intention on being in a war and is unprepared, will cause mental scaring. Be careful of stating direct causes without cited research to back it up. In O’Briens novel he constantly talks about the horrors that these men saw and trauma that they experienced. This trauma could be measured by the Guttman scale. The Guttman scale related to the veterans current diagnosis of PTSD and the intensity of their symptoms. Diagnosing and treating this disease involved talking with the veterans about many less severe events they experienced throughout their life before the war and then progressively advancing to more traumatic events during the war. The order of these events would aid in determining information about the trauma that these soldiers experienced in their life which helped them create a diagnosis for the soldier (The Combat Exposure Scale). This article  which? you do not introduce the article so 'this' does not make sense as a reference. shapes the way that the reader looks at The Things They Carried by providing background information about PTSD and how it is measured. This feels more like a topic sentence, since it tells me why you are using this 'scale' in reference to this analysis, in conjunction with O'Brien. An experiment is done in this article that determined the best way to assess a veterans PTSD, is by focusing on compact exposure. By providing this information, the reader quickly has a better understanding about how serious of a condition PTSD is. This article also causes be careful with stating direct causation someone to conclude to more accurate assumptions about the novel, while explaining the actions and decision that the characters have taken. Reword this sentence.

Not only were soldiers directly affected direct causation by the Vietnam war, their families were too. Spouses and parents had their family taken suddenly by the draft and there was nothing they could do about it. In O’Brien’s book, there is a character named Lieutenant Cross. Jimmy Cross always carried letters from a girl he loved name Martha. “They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack” (O’Brien). This quote shows how the soldiers were looking for any glimmer of hope or happiness from home in this tough time. Soldiers often carried photos and letters from loved ones to remind them about home. This transition does not work as a paragraph or as a move from families --> Cross. The example/evidence you use to back your topic sentence is love relationship, not family. The paragraph is also underdeveloped and does not seem to transition from the preceding paragraph. 

A study was done to show the behavior and emotional symptoms of  school aged children and their parents with a active duty soldier in their family. Needs transition from preceding paragraph into this idea. Why are we moving to this information? In the article “The Long War and Parental Combat Deployment” it talks about the effects on spouses and children while the draft was going on. “Studies reported some child adjustment problems during parental deployment included depression, negative behavioral adjustment, and poor academic performance” (The Long War and Parental Combat Deployment). This quote shows the negative effects that their parents leaving had. Children were studied to determine risk in raising a child in this situation. It was determined that combat deployment has a cumulative effect on children and spouses even after the parent in combat returns home. This study shapes O’Brien’s book by explaining the actions of some of the characters, and some of the feelings that they were experiencing. It helps explain why Jimmy Cross acted the way he did because it just made him happy and gave him hope, while also explaining how the people they left at home suffering too. It doesn’t fully explain Cross, because the study explains children and not love relationships. But I think there is a cohesive, pertinent idea in your findings about impacts on the family. This study feels more appropriate to go alongside your topic sentence about impacts on the family. 

 In O’Brien’s novel, how the characters act and the way the text is shaped was done by the utter brutality of the Vietnam War. This story confirms what is known about the Vietnam War,  that the violence and gore of the war caused PTSD in many of the young soldiers that were there fighting against their will. Combat exposure depending on the situation, can cause mental scarring for a persons entire life. This scarring can affect a soldier personally and also their family. The symptoms on children and spouses are long term even after the parent at war returns home. The Things They Carried is better understood by the reader after having read these two articles, while also giving the reader a greater respect and appreciation for the men that fought in this war.     
