
In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association added Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the third edition of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Although the PTSD diagnosis was contentious when first introduced, it has helped fill an important gap in psychiatric practice and theory. In the excerpt “The Things They Carry,” Tim O’Brien uses his personal background of being a Vietnam War veteran to share with his readers the blurred lines of reality and fiction that the soldiers of the Alpha Company experience in their time during war. O’Brien uses the physical objects that the men carry in Vietnam to help deal with the emotional burdens that come along with being in combat. The story leaves the audience wondering if the soldiers who served in the Vietnam War experienced PTSD after they left. Through the descriptive language that O’Brien uses in his excerpt, “The Things They Carry” and my further research into historical contexts, it is recognized that the objects that the men carried with them during their time in Vietnam became a mode of mental survival that the they used in order to deal with their PTSD. 

There is a passage in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carry” that list some emotional burdens that the soldiers of the Alpha Company carry with them during their time at war. O’Brien explains that the men carry the emotional baggage of other men who might die, the shameful memories of their cowardice, and their greatest fear of dishonor where they will kill and die because they were embarrassed not to. “It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment.” (O’Brien, 338-339) Fighting for one’s country is an extremely noble and courageous thing to do. In America we praise and honor the men who put their lives on the line to give us our freedom. During the Vietnam War men were expected to step up and take the initiative to go fight for our country even when they didn’t want to. When O’Brien says that the soldiers “died as to not to die of embarrassment” it was for the prideful men who were too ashamed to admit that they were scared of dying. The reaction of men not wanting to be perceived as a coward helped intensify the situation of being at war. This led me to believe that this superficial perception is a factor of why the soldiers developed PTSD after leaving Vietnam. Many questions of soldiers developing PTSD from the Vietnam War and their way of dealing with it arose while reading this passage from “The Things They Carry” that required me to look to historical context for answers. 

In researching historical writings about PTSD, I wanted to first know an overview of what PTSD is, who is impacted by it, and ways to avoid it. Jonathon I. Bisson, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” answered all my questions. The journal article describes PTSD as a mental health illness that is triggered after witnessing or undergoing a terrifying and life altering event such as death or a serious injury. People who are affected by this condition could experience symptoms that include flashbacks, outburst of anger, nightmares, and extreme anxiety. To be diagnosed with this disorder patients must had been experiencing symptoms for at least a month with significant distress, enabling them to complete everyday functions. Typically, traumatic experiences conform without the development of a pathological response. When this process fails, PTSD can occur. “Anyone can develop the disorder after a traumatic event, but the incidence increases with the severity of the trauma.” (Bisson, 790) Studies have reported that around 19% of Vietnam War veterans developed PTSD after combat. Bisson’s article made me think about “The Things They Carry” and how the soldiers of the Alpha Company were exposed to traumatic war situations in Vietnam that were extremely “terrifying and life altering.” In order to remain sane, the soldiers had to distract themselves from the reality that was happening around them therefore, they used the things the carried as a way of dealing with their PTSD.

In another historical context, “Study Raises Estimate of Vietnam War Stress” Leslie Roberts proves that there was a high risk of developing PTSD after a soldier left Vietnam. Roberts introduces how the number of phycological disorders from the Vietnam War were highly underestimated from recent studies. A new study founded by the Veterans Administration (VA) has concluded that “470,000 Vietnam veterans still suffer from a major phycological disorder directly related to the war,” (Roberts, 788) which is a huge contrast to the prior study directed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) who only found that PTSD affected 66,000 war Veterans from Vietnam. Although PTSD was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980, it has occurred after every war prior when it has been known as “shell shock or battle fatigue.” PTSD can range from different intensities based off of the severity of a traumatic event.  In 1984 Congress told VA to find out exactly how many Vietnam War veterans were affected by PTSD. The VA found out that “15% of veterans who served in Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia still suffer from PTSD. That translates into 470,000 of the 3.4 million men who served in the war.” (Roberts, 788) This second piece of historical context shows the severity in the number of soldiers who developed PTSD from the Vietnam War. This information is relevant because it showed the high chance of PTSD development in the soldiers. Both Bisson’s and Robert’s article encouraged me to believe in my theory that the physical objects that the men carried with them were used as a tool of mental survival for the soldiers to deal with their PTSD. 

After finishing my research on PTSD, I looked once more at “The Things They Carried.” In the fictional excerpt, O’Brien uses explicit details from the battlefield to illustrate what the scared soldiers were exposed to during combat. This technique was not demonstrated in the historical sources. Most men who fought in the Vietnam War were in their late teens and early twenties. They were at a young age and because of their inexperience and little knowledge of war life the emotional burdens the soldiers carried with them were dramatically increased. They had no capable knowledge of how to deal with hardships as intense as the killing of others and the death of close friends. O’Brien uses gory and intense details in his passages to stress the hardships that soldiers in Vietnam went through. He describes times of panic where the men would squeal and make moaning noises and cover their heads while praying to Jesus, and firing weapons blindly. Where the men would sob, and beg for the noise to stop and make stupid promises to themselves, God, and their parents, hoping not to die.  O’Brien mentions a variety of different things that the soldiers carry with them physically and emotionally throughout the war. He talks about how after Ted Lavender’s death the men felt relief because they were still alive. Immediately after feeling relief however, the soldiers felt guilty because their friend had just died and they should be feeling remorse. After a person has been exposed to high war zone stress such as killing and death it is likely that they could develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In Johnathon I. Bisson’s journal article he said that 19% of Vietnam War veterans develop PTSD, which according to Leslie Roberts article is 470,000 soldiers. The explicit details and descriptive language that “The Things They Carried” offered could not be understood by just reading historical sources. This information made me more passionate to believe in my claim that the lines between reality and fiction during the Vietnam War were blurred and that the objects that the men carried were used as a way of dealing with their PTSD. 
