
In the story, The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien, and the journal The Things They Carried: Combat, Unemployment, and Disability among US Men, the effects that the Vietnam war had on soldiers were drastic. Tim O’Brien writes of the hardships and everyday life in the Jungles of the North. The 20-year war was unlike any previously fought by the United States. Tactics and weapons had become more advanced and the style of warfare had changed to guerilla. Vietnam had become a bloodbath and many Americans fought against it. Citizens felt there was no need for the United States to take part in Vietnams dividing country. However, for or against the war, the draft pulled many young males away from the life they lived and dropped them into a combat zone. The experiences and missions that soldiers took part in and witnessed, left many of them traumatized when they returned home. Through an understanding of Posttraumatic Stress disorder and the effects it has on soldiers’ ability to return back to the life of a civilian after the experiences of war, we can comprehend Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ decision to tighten down on his company after the death of Ted Lavender. 

Posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD, is a mental health issue that occurs after enduring a life-threatening event such as sexual assault, a car accident, or more commonly known, military combat. It was not until 1980 however, that the American Psychiatric Association added PTSD to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders (Nation Center). The factors that develop PTSD include, age gender, and any previous traumatic experience. Some of the symptoms that many of the soldiers that face PTSD are as follows; reliving the event. Many soldiers will experience nightmares or flashbacks that bring them back to the place they just escaped. Avoiding situations that remind the soldiers of the event. People or activities that remind the soldiers of the event are avoided and even sometimes conversations about their deployment are spared because it causes them too much pain. Thirdly, depression becomes very popular amongst these soldiers who face posttraumatic stress disorder. Soldiers develop a sense of doubt and guilt for the men and women that are still overseas. The men and women begin to believe that the deaths of fallen comrades was their doing, even if they had no control over the situation. Finally, the soldiers are always on edge. They tend to be always alert and aware of their surroundings even though the enemy is not present. What is very common is for men and women to be startled easily and can become angry when people sneak up on them. In the Novel by Tim O’Brien, the soldiers deal with Lavenders death differently. Some of the men want to talk about it and discuss their feelings with each other. “I heard, man. Cement. So why not shut the fuck up” (O’Brien 336)?. However, others felt that it would be best if they could refrain from bringing it up. Because Lavender had become such an imperative part of the team, the loss was devastating. Bringing up his death only made the soldiers more upset and would trigger those symptoms of PTSD.  

In the story The Things They Carried, Time O’Brien describes fictional real life experiences that he encountered during his tour in Vietnam. The reason that Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is relevant is because of the events and situations that all of the soldiers experienced led to PTSD when the grunts returned to their families. For example, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross faced many and multiple interactions with Martha, the girl back home which whom he loved but struggled finding it possible that she loved him back. In the beginning of the story, it seemed as if LT Cross was obsessed with her. Jimmy Cross had cherished each and every letter that she had written to him hoping that one of them contained information about her love for him. However, they always let Jimmy down. Usually, she talked about school and how her classes were going. How Martha felt about each professor and the exams that she was taking. But, it was a bit strange when we gained the information that Jimmy “tended to lick the envelope where Martha had to seal it” (O’Brien 331). Additionally, Cross always had hoped she was a virgin. That is not something that always crosses your mind when you’re in a combat zone. However, before Lavender died, Jimmy received a good luck pebble from Martha. She found it on the Jersey shore and had sent it as a token of her feelings for him. Cross had decided to keep the pebble in his mouth. This caused great distractions for Jimmy because during every march, through the perils of Vietnam, Jimmy would taste the sand and salty ocean from the sea in New Jersey. Jimmy got lost in daydreams of him and Martha on the beach and the “life he wished to have compared to the one he currently lived in” (O’Brien 331). Orders from Jimmy had become limited. Sometimes he’d make sure to tell his men to always be ready to fire and made sure that there spacing was good. However, in April, when the platoon stopped to investigate a tunnel they had run across, Ted Lavender had run off to use the bathroom. After the tunnel had been cleared and Lavender was on his way back, Lavender was shot in the head. This had an everlasting effect on the entire Platoon but mostly the LT. Jimmy Cross thought to himself that Ted’s death was his fault. Lieutenant thought that he was so busy focusing on his personal life, that he forgot about the lives of his men. However, there was nothing that Jimmy could have done about it, he had no control. The gun shot came out of no-where and ended up striking Lavender on his way back from the bathroom. The death of the grunt Lavender will live with Jimmy the rest of his life. Being that the guilt of a death is considered a symptom of Posttraumatic stress disorder, it is very likely that LT Jimmy Cross returns home and is troubled by the experience.

It was difficult to describe PTSD during the Vietnam war because it had yet to be seen as such until after it had concluded. As Alair MacLean writes in her article of Combat and disability of United States service members, soldiers during battle face extreme conditions and are constantly exposed to extreme danger and disease (MacLean). Men are constantly asked to violate social normality’s, carrying out orders to fire upon enemies and do what is deemed necessary to survive. It can be difficult to adjust to the new environment that has been forced upon a soldier in Vietnam. Leaving behind a life and a home to serve your country is not something that every man is built for. Nonetheless, most young males were not given the option. To be able to kill someone at will to protect your brothers in harm way takes a lot of mental focus and lack thereof. These men now had a new way of living and had to constantly be alert. It was difficult to then take the sense of alertness away from the men following the war, which led to PTSD for many of the soldiers. 

As a member of the armed forces, nothing can cloud your vision of the mission. Men cannot allow personal affairs, morals, or the environment of war mediate a life or death situation. In the novel, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross lost a man named Ted Lavender. Lavender was scared of the war and coped with it my carrying tranquilizers and large amounts of weed (O’Brien). Ted was using the bathroom when all of a sudden, he was shot in the head. Nobody was at fault for his death. In fact, there was nothing that anybody could have done to prevent the attack. However, this led to depression in LT Cross that was due to a symptom of PTSD. “He sat at the bottom of his foxhole and wept” (O’Brien 336). LT Cross will feel great guilt surrounding Ted’s death with no true understanding why.  

Although death in America is something that many people mourn and take years to overcome, the same cannot apply to the members that are left in Alpha Company. They cannot grieve and allow Ted Lavenders death and allow it to hold them back from continuing on with the mission. If they do, they too may die in Vietnam. Henceforth, the soldiers did not view life as sacred as most do back at home, they couldn’t. Otherwise, the soldiers would constantly be unable to perform their duties and more men would die. What may have been considered unmoral to most people, was considered an everyday task to most of the soldiers. This is considered a symptom of PTSD. For example, the men would kick the dead enemy soldiers and cut off limbs such as thumbs (O’Brien). To men and woman back at home, that would terrify them and would make them concerned for that individual. People that pass away are supposed to be preserved and taken care of properly. Sure, organ donors may donate their body to science, however, during viewings, the family would appreciate the fingers of the deceased to still be present. Because of the soldiers’ PTSD their outlook on life is not as coherent as people back at home. 

Although, the actions taken by the soldiers became normal, most of them needed something to help their state of mind. Like previously mentioned, Lavender carried tranquilizers to feel relaxed. This took his mind off of the seriousness of the war. In addition, the large amounts of dope that Lavender carried were then used by the remaining men in the company.  A large problem that many soldiers with PTSD faced when they returned home was drug abuse. Because doping was common during the war, men turned to it because they constantly felt that they were on guard and were easily startled by loud noises or events that triggered memories of the war. It would calm their mind and would help burry the posttraumatic stress (AJP).

Men always carried the mentality of honor to the battlefield. They knew that there was too much at stake for them to not act accordingly during the war. They carried embarrassing memories, horrendous memories, ones that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. They would never be able to escape the fact that their buddy died right in front of their eyes. “Men fought not because they had to, but because they were too ashamed not too” (O’Brien). To have to return home and muster up the words to say that you were too scared to fire a rifle to safe your battle buddy would be pathetic to say the least. Although the war stories men have collected share the triumphs in battle, PTSD makes it difficult to explain the sorrow men felt towards their experiences.   

Not only does a soldier need to be mentally prepared for war, but also physically. The reason for physical requirements to become enlisted is not for training purposes only. There are real life scenarios and situations where physical readiness plays a large part in the field. Although it can be difficult to maintain the military standards that are required, the more successful soldiers will become and they will have a higher chance of survival. For example, when men were in Vietnam, shots were constantly being fired in every which way. It was difficult to tell sometimes where the enemy was positioned. Now, because the United States military does not leave anyone behind, fallen men in battle must be recovered or assisted to cover when they have become injured. Although these efforts are deemed heroic, a lot of these attempts are extremely dangerous. Men who suffered from PTSD dread the remembrance of running into open fire and being completely vulnerable to say the least. Now, depending on the size of the individual, the rescue can be easy or difficult. A rather slim soldier attempting to attend to a heavier soldier can find it difficult to bring that grunt to safety.

 In the story The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien describes in detail the equipment that each soldier carries. Most of the time, it depends on the soldiers needs for operation. In Ted Lavenders case, he carried the heavier load of the company. “Ted was fully equipped with M-79 grenade launcher that fired 10 ounce rounds. Although the weapon only weighed 5.9 pounds, he carried 34 additional rounds showing the brute strength behind Ted” (O’Brien 330). Besides death, many soldiers suffered injuries during the war such as a loss of limbs and damaged parts of their bodies. The soldiers were then no longer able to serve in the war and were sent home. Injuries can have a dramatic effect on an individual who loses all function in a body part that they used to have full control over. Not being able to run or walk or even stand can be demoralizing. Soldiers with PTSD occasionally fell into a depression because they have lost an important part of their motor skills. Additionally, Agent Orange that was used as an herbicide during the war, where over 19 million gallons were spread across the Jungles of Vietnam, was later revealed to cause major health effects. Because of the chemical Dioxin, that could be found within the gas, tumors, birth defects of children, and cancer were common side effects found in returning soldiers from overseas (History).  Besides the pain that a soldier endured during this time, was the remembrance of the event that put a soldier in the position that they now face. 

Death tolls of the 20-year war were unfortunately high. During the time period of the war, soldiers are in a constant state of panic. The war was not strategized well and it was difficult to do so. Many new soldiers had to adjust to the strategies of the military to help for successful missions. As of 2008, the total number of soldiers killed in action was 40,934 (National Archives). Soldiers form bonds with each other, they have to in order to survive and move on. They have to be a close knit unit to be effective. However, with the amount of deaths, members of your unit or platoon were bound to be killed while in the line of fire. Fortunately for LT Cross’ platoon, he only lost one soldier. But the effect that he had on the entire platoon was tremendous. It devastated the platoon and because of Ted Lavenders death, the lieutenant was no longer going to be to be lackadaisical. The unit would be strong and cohesive and would do all he could to prevent further injury to his men. Another large issue that was present during the war was suicides. Many of the soldiers hated the situation they were in or struggled facing a disability that came from the war. This led to a total of 382 self-inflicted deaths (National Archives). 

The effect the war had on soldiers was not only traumatizing, but left a mark on them forever. Some soldiers were left disabled and were not able to walk or shake someone’s hand. Soldiers’ limbs were lost, the ability to hear, see, and smell had also been affected, sometimes permanently. This interfered with the ability of soldiers to jump back into the way of society and only worsened those with PTSD. Most Vietnam veterans couldn’t work. They were incapable because of their disabilities and it was hard for many of them to accept that realization. Alair MacLean writes, non-combat veterans were more likely to achieve a paid job when they returned from the war. This is because most of them did not suffer or struggle the same amount of stress, hardships, and experiences that the combat veterans did. They were not as devastated post-war and were also less likely to develop PTSD. Another factor that affected job opportunities was age, men that tended to be a little bit older tended to find it harder to find jobs (MacLean 556). This is because the older they were, the more prone to disability they were, making them less valuable for a job. However, if you were younger, you found it much easier to acquire a job because not only did you have military skills and assets, you were stronger and smarter and less disabled compared to the older combat veterans. 

Unfortunately, even after the devastating conditions of war, blacks still suffered segregation. Blacks and lower incomed veterans found it difficult to deal with the effects that resulted from the war, the disabilities and mental illnesses that many of them faced could not be treated because they lacked the resources necessary that other combat veterans received. In a study conducted by Blau and Duncan, it was assessed that people are affected by experiences in their adult life based upon previous events or experiences that people faced during their childhood (MacLean 560). Because most blacks at the time did not grow up as successfully as white people did, they did not reach the same social success that many whites did. Another major factor that resulted in the struggle for Blacks was the minimalist parental guidance and educational benefactor that truly effected the community. Do to this study, it was deduced that combat only made matters worse on their health and economic differences (MacLean 558). All in all, combat veterans that had fewer pre-war advantages faced more hardships when they returned from war. Most were disabled and found it very difficult to find a job, and suffered from the PTSD that later haunted their everyday lives. 

You can escape the war, but the war never escapes you. Soldiers that were fortunate to return home after escaping the perils of North Vietnam were forever implanted with the events and experiences that took place. Soon after the Vietnam war ended, scientists had finally conducted research to find why many combat veterans suffered so extremely when returning home from a war zone. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder was a main proprietor of the source of their pain and suffering. Many soldiers were reliving tragedies that they faced and did what they could to avoid situations that could trigger any emotions. However, most of the time, emotions got the best of the soldiers and led to depression. It was very difficult for them to return to society immediately following their return home and resume their everyday civilian lives. 
