The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest wars that the United States of America has seen 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 (The Combat Exposure Scale). 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 effect 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 (O’Brien). O’Briens book, The Things They Carried, shows the brutality of the Vietnam war and how it affected soldiers and their families, which helps the reader understand the horrors of PTSD and the war itself. 

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disease that affected many of the Vietnam soldiers during the war, which can cause 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. O’Brien talks about “intangibles” because the soldiers were carrying around a lot of mental baggage that could not be seen by eye. This relates to PTSD because the soldiers in Vietnam had to constantly think about loved ones left at home and what they would be returning to.   

The article The Combat Exposure Scale shapes the way that the reader looks at The Things They Carried by providing background information about PTSD and how it is measured. Exposure to such horror as a person who had no intention on being in a war and is unprepared, can cause mental scaring (The Combat Exposure Scale). 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 veteran’s 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). 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 can also cause someone to conclude to more accurate assumptions about the novel. While explaining the actions and decision of the characters in this novel. 

Not only were soldiers effected by the Vietnam war, their spouses were too. Spouses had  their loved ones 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 someone they love at home in this tough time. Soldiers often carried photos and letters from loved ones to remind them about home. 

Not only the spouses were effected the soldier’s children were as well. A study was done to show the behavior and emotional symptoms of school aged children and their parents with an active duty soldier in their family. 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.

 In O’Brien’s novel, how the character’s 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 person’s 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.     
