War creates far more casualties than battlefield injuries or death. Often, the mental toll inflicted on the personnel in any armed conflict is equally nefarious. In “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’brien examines the death of innocence that soldiers experienced, which often manifests itself as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, a mental illness that affects Vietnam veterans to this day (Zarembo). This explanation of PTSD provides a cultural context that clearly helps to shape The Things They Carried, as PTSD is a serious issue in past and present American culture. O’brien examines this issue through descriptions of the everyday lives of average American infantryman, and in doing so provides important insight into PTSD. By examining O’brien’s descriptions of the experiences and hardships of the average soldier during the Vietnam War, one can clearly see the extent of the detriment to the mental well being of American soldiers caused by the ferocity of the conflict and the horrors of war.

Obrien juxtaposes long periods of normalcy and boredom experienced by American soldiers with brief, intense bursts of terror they experienced during combat. This constant cycle of boredom and terror would certainly be detrimental to any individual’s mental health, especially the young soldiers during the conflict, many of whom were as young as eighteen. A clear instance of this juxtaposition was the sharp contrast between the descriptions of common objects soldiers carried, such as “P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches…” (O’brien 328) etc., with the death of Ted Lavender, which happened suddenly and without warning. Although the soldiers lived a boring existence most of the time, which they spent carrying countless everyday items through the jungles of Vietnam, death was always just a footstep away. Ted Lavender experienced this: his death was quick, “just boom, then down,” an incidence drastically different from the hours of boredom that occupied the everyday life of an infantryman (O’brien 330). This contrast between boredom, exemplified by the monotonous description of the items carried by the soldiers, and the sudden and unfathomable terror of combat, demonstrates the fact that American soldiers during the Vietnam War thought constantly of their own death. This awareness and constant presence of death certainly contributed to mental fatigue and illness. Even to this day “11% of [Vietnam] veterans still suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” emphasizing the clear mental toll felt by American soldiers as a result of the conflict (Zarembo). Through juxtaposition of boredom with terror, O’brien clearly emphasizes the extent of the havoc wreaked by PTSD during the Vietnam War.

O’brien also explores the issue of survivor’s guilt, a common trend among veterans with PTSD, where surviving soldiers feel irrational guilt over the death of their comrades and subordinates. Lieutenant Cross feels a burden for Lavender’s death, as he illogically blames Lavender’s sudden demise on his own lapse in situational awareness and judgment due to fantasizing about his lover Martha. Cross claims that “now Ted Lavender was dead because he loved her so much and could not stop thinking about her,” a clear instance of survivor’s guilt (O’brien 331). Survivor’s guilt, Matthew Tull notes, is a common theme among veterans of all military conflicts, that often “diminishes your quality of life alone.” Survivor’s guilt was yet another mental burden placed on soldiers during the Vietnam War, clearly contributing to the development of PTSD.

O’brien further discusses the extent of mental duress the soldiers experienced through his descriptions of the unique terror they experienced during combat. One way O’brien achieved this was through contrasting sentence structure. He goes from choppy sentences consisting of lists of items the soldiers carried to long run-on sentences describing scenes of battle, such as:

“There were times of panic, when they squealed or wanted to squeal but couldn’t, when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said Dear Jesus and flopped around on the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and sobbed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and to their mothers and fathers, hoping not to die” (Obrien 337).

This quote emphasizes the feeling the soldiers must have had that times of combat seemed to drag on forever, further contributing to their own mental breakdown. The duration of combat was probably significantly shorter than how the soldiers must have felt, but O’brien’s use of a long run-on sentence certainly emphasizes the prolonged fear felt during a firefight, a factor that certainly contributed to the prevelance of PTSD. O’brien further discusses the emotional scarring caused by the terrors of combat by discussing how the soldiers carried not only the various and sundry items typical of infantryman, but also serious emotional weight as well. The soldiers “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die,” such as “grief, terror, love, longing,” all of which certainly contributed to emotional and mental problems such as PTSD (O’brien 338). This emotional baggage stems from the horrors they witnessed, the terror they felt during combat, and often guilt associated with the horrible acts they themselves had to participate in. The soldiers “carried shameful memories,” such as how they “kicked corpses. They cut off thumbs” (O’brien 338). Because of the terrible acts they were both subjected to and participated in themselves, PTSD is by no means a surprising consequence of the war. O’brien clearly cleverly portrays the emotional scars felt by the soldiers through his descriptions of the horrors of combat.

Another contributing factor to emotional stress during the Vietnam War that O’brien emphasizes is emotional suppression, where soldiers preferred keeping their emotions internalized and out of plain sight to portray an appearance of masculinity. This emotional suppression only served to heighten the mental stress of soldiers on the battlefield. O’brien goes so far as to claim the fear of appearing fearful often outweighed the fear of death. He describes how the soldiers, preferring to portray constant masculinity instead of projecting and discussing emotions, “were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it” (O’brien 338). This emotional suppression is clearly not conducive to proper mental health and recovery from PTSD, and certainly contributed to the emotional toll the Vietnam War wreaked on American soldiers.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is certainly not unique to Vietnam veterans. By definition it is a mental disorder that anyone who undergoes an intensely traumatic experience may suffer from, making it an issue universal to any military conflict in human history. It is certainly a problem that continues today because of the current conflict in the Middle East, and it is a problem that will continue as long as there is armed conflict in the world. The issue of PTSD is heavily emphasized in The Things They Carried through Tim Obrien’s discussion of the everyday lives of American soldiers during the Vietnam War.
