A grenade exploded within feet of him moments ago, he watched one of his friends die this morning, and though he does not necessarily believe in being in such a place, the atmosphere and opinions of those who he knew back home make his having to be there even less of a choice than it was before. He knows death could lurk behind any tree or be planted beneath the patch of earth where he could place his next step, so what is it that could possibly keep a man sane when his world could end at any second, and he would hardly have a say in the matter? A bible? Some comic books? Letters from a lover? Maybe even a bar or two of soap? Regardless of what he or any of the men that stood beside him carried with them to kill, they all chose something else that was far more significant to who they were. They chose the things that they could turn to when times seemed to be at an end. Perhaps it was not these things, but the act of carrying of them that would be most telling not just of soldiers, but of all people. David Jansson’s “The Other Vietnam Syndrome: The Cultural Politics of Corporeal Patriotism and Visual Resistance,” and Jonathan Shay’s “The Betrayal of "What's Right": Vietnam Combat Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” seek to examine the stresses presented by the Vietnam War and how they affected men like those mentioned in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” to argue that people turn to the things they live for when death feels closest.

David Jansson wrote about what he referred to as the “Other Vietnam Syndrome,” which described how the overlap in participants and simultaneous conception of the American counterculture and the antiwar movement that protested the fighting in Vietnam caused the American mainstream to view any opposition towards the war as being “hippy,” which carried a negative connotation to most of the country at the time. Jansson infers the national attitude towards those who visually aligned with the hippies as being negative when he discusses the 1968 Presidential Campaign of Senator Gene McCarthy. He discusses how McCarthy’s campaign organizers instituted the “Get Clean for Gene,” strategy, in which the numerous college students from around the country who showed up to work for the McCarthy Campaign were asked to cut their hair and beards in order for the campaign to avoid having any sort of hippy appearance (Jansson 428). The fact that political campaigns were made vulnerable by having any association with the counterculture is testament to the negative feelings that the American mainstream felt towards the hippies of the time. One of the key points presented by Jansson in his description of the Other Vietnam Syndrome is the idea that the American counterculture and the Antiwar Movement were often seen as being parallel, if not the same entity. The visual association between the two groups created similarly negative feelings towards those who were seen as being opposed to the war in Vietnam, which made many of the men feel forced into participating in the war when they would have rather avoided the conflict. This created a moral dilemma in the lives of many soldiers as they had to make the decision of either taking part in a war they did not understand or risk being ostracized by their fellow countrymen. For those who chose to take part in a war they did not believe in rather than risk alienation from society, it became a necessity to find something that reminded them of what it was that they held dear in the world so that they might have the strength to persevere when times were darkest.

In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” he talks about the things that each man carried with him beyond the standard issue items given to them for performing their duties in war. These could be things as mundane as toothbrushes and dental floss, or pictures of family, or as atypical as the “6 or 7 ounces of premium dope,” carried by Ted Lavender (O’Brien 329). Though the items they carried could vary greatly, each item was similar in that it was representative of the personality of the carrier, and in that it served as a beacon of hope and comfort to the item’s respective carrier in times of peril. This is best exemplified by the thoughts of Lieutenant Cross when he is waiting for one of his men to come out of a tunnel while Cross and the others stood guard outside. It was just as Lieutenant Cross had begun to worry about the soldier he sent into the tunnel that he involuntarily started thinking about Martha. The author describes Cross’s thoughts as, “And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking about Martha” (O’Brien 333). The language in these lines is particularly telling of human nature, because the lieutenant’s sudden shift in thought is described as “without willing it,” implying that Cross instinctually began thinking of Martha when faced with the stress and uncertainty surrounding him at the time. This is crucial because it shows that Cross is easily distracted from the war going on around him, indicating apathy to the conflict, as well as the human instinct to inwardly travel to the thing in life that one holds dearest to when one is faced with great danger and peril. Jansson’s article shows the stateside pressures that were put on men like those in “The Things They Carried,” which provides a better internal understanding of the mindsets of the men who had to find their own light at the end of the long, dark tunnel of war when love of country was not enough. This greater internal understanding of these soldiers exposes the natural tendency of human beings to cling to those things that they hold dearest when they feel closest to death. 

Jonathan Shay’s “The Betrayal of "What's Right": Vietnam Combat Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” discusses the vast number of Vietnam veterans that were affected by post-traumatic stress disorder and the difficulties presented to them by the disorder. He talks about the numerous facets of the veterans’ experiences during the war that could contribute to the men having the disorder, as well as other psychological injuries that many veterans suffer from (Shay Abstract). Shay’s discussion on the magnitude of the issue lends understanding of just how many men were affected by the disorder, as well as the severity of the events and the rate at which the events occurred that contributed to PTSD. Shay’s article proves that such terrible experiences-like the men of “The Things They Carried,” witnessing Ted Lavender being killed-occurred frequently, and were detrimental to the soldiers’ psyche.  

Such terrible things being witnessed so frequently made life difficult for those who took part in the Vietnam War, and thus these men were often found themselves turning to those things that they carried to give them strength and reassurance when times seemed to be at their worst. For Lieutenant Cross, the main character in O’Brien’s story, this was the connection he felt with Martha. This is best exemplified by the scene following Ted Lavender’s death when the soldiers are waiting for a chopper to pick up the body when O’Brien talks about how Lieutenant Cross was not thinking about the man that was just killed, but Martha. Cross is described as “thinking he loved her more than anything, more than his men,” while he sat there with the other soldiers (O’Brien 331). This is representative of humans’ natural tendency to mentally gravitate towards those things that are most precious and meaningful when faced with traumatic or perilous circumstances. Lieutenant Cross seeking solace in his memories and day dreams of a girl who is thousands of miles away when he is faced with the weight of something as traumatic as witnessing one of his own men be killed is a testament to the argument of humans experiencing a sort of natural gravity towards those things most important to them when faced with perilous or traumatic circumstances.

Both Jonathan Shay’s “The Betrayal of "What's Right": Vietnam Combat Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” and David Jansson’s “The Other Vietnam Syndrome: The Cultural Politics of Corporeal Patriotism and Visual Resistance,” offer ample evidence of the stresses and struggles faced by soldiers during the Vietnam war, which, in combination with the actions of the characters of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” assists in defining a shared characteristic among all humans when faced with the trepidation of demise. The article by David Jansson offers understanding of the atmosphere and public opinion towards the opposition of war, which serves to illustrate the plight of many soldiers in the war at the time. The article by Jonathan Shay seeks to display the magnitude of the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder by studying the number of Vietnam veterans affected by the disorder, and the difficulties presented by the disease in the lives of veterans and their families. This analyzation of such a large mental health pandemic in Vietnam veterans lends comprehension to the scope and severity of the mental injuries sustained during the war, which helps to illustrate the state of the psyche of the soldiers during the war. The evidence of the numerous stresses put on the men presented in both works help to add dimension to the decisions made by the soldiers in Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” as they help explain the importance behind the act of carrying such personal or symbolic items in times of war, thus exposing an important facet of the human condition. The soldiers in Tim O’Brien’s novel took part in one of the most gruesome and controversial conflicts in modern history and in doing so were forced to discover what it was they truly clung to on this earth when they faced down the barrel of fate.  
