The Vietnam War is considered the longest war in American history and is widely recognized by the American belief that communism was expanding over Asia. The war has been considered the Vietnam War to Americans, but the American War to Vietnamese. The Vietnam War which is the prime focus in the story “The Things They Carried” by O’Brien, is also considered the United States military intervention from 1965-1975. During this military intervention, nearly 60,000 American, and two million Vietnamese deaths occurred. The deaths of the soldiers during the Vietnam War as well as other events from the war are accurately displayed in the story. The events discussed in O'Brien's work stemmed from his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War, therefore his personal war story is revealed in the text. O’Brien’s war story includes significant ideas such as the common diseases in the war such as malaria and trench foot, the daily lives of the soldiers, and their survival techniques. These are all factors that permitted the Vietnam War to shape the story, “The Things They Carried”.

Being a soldier in the Vietnam War requires not only fighting for your country, but also taking care of yourself in order to fight off any harmful diseases. Other than frequent diseases such as bacterial/fungal infections, “lice and ringworm and leeches and paddy algae and various rots and molds”, (O’Brien 335) malaria was the most common, death heavy disease during the war. Malaria was a frequently acquired disease to Vietnam War soldiers, where “there were 24,606 cases of malaria, an estimated 391,965 sick-days because of malaria, and 46 deaths due to malaria” (Beadle and Hoffman 320). It was common for war soldiers to acquire malaria because it is caused by a parasite from mosquito bites which affects the liver. In addition to malaria being a common major cause of death during the Vietnam War, trench foot was a medical condition that is caused by infection that caused struggle to soldiers as well.

Trench Foot stems from excessive “exposure to wet, cold, unsanitary conditions. This was a common occurrence among soldiers during the First World War and the Vietnam War” (All Health Site). Some soldiers in the war as explained in “The Things They Carried”, carried foot powder with them to prevent trench foot, even if the foot powder was not very effective. During the war, soldiers were required to stand in wet trenches and bury their feet in dirty water. Not even the soldiers’ socks were able to protect the soldiers from developing trench foot; they had no way of removing trench foot during the Vietnam War. Diseases such as malaria and trench foot contribute to the struggle of the everyday lives of Vietnam War soldiers in O'Brien's text.  

Every day for soldiers in the Vietnam War was a blessing; the soldiers did not know when or how their time would come so they had to live everyday like it was their last. Daily life during the war consisted of sleeping in cocoons made out of trees (tents were too heavy to carry around), drinking/drugs so that the soldiers were able to forget about the terrifying sights they saw on that day, different missions each day, and carrying heavy equipment and guns. Every day was the same schedule for these soldiers. Unfortunately, most of the time a soldier’s day consisted of watching their close friends die. For the soldiers who were not present for their friends’ death, their days were different. Some carried an “PRC-25 radio, a killer, 26 pounds with its battery,” some carried a “M-60 which weighed 23 pounds unloaded”, and some “marched until dusk, then dug their holes” (O’Brien 330-331). These soldiers were required to carry around heavy equipment to protect themselves from getting injured or shot. Aside from the hardships of a soldier's everyday life, they had the ability to keep in touch with their families by writing letters. 

Staying in contact with family members during the war may be one of the hardest parts about being a soldier. In “The Things They Carried”, the main character reads/writes letters to his loved one every afternoon. Though “they were not love letters, he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon, after a day’s march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending” (328). The extensive period of separation the soldiers faced from their loved ones is heartbreaking. In O'Brien's text the letters the soldiers received from home were a distraction to them, but fortunately the soldiers had the ability to stay in contact with their families as part of their daily routine. Another part of everyday life was thinking of ways to survive the war. Survival techniques such as carrying heavy equipment, and sticking together with other soldiers were important parts of everyday life in the Vietnam War.

Survival is a prime worry for war soldiers. One survival technique that soldiers in O'Brien's text used was sacrificing their struggle to carry heavy equipment in order to stay safe and defend themselves. Since nights were cold and monsoons were wet, each soldier carried a poncho, “with its quilted liner, the poncho weighed almost 2 pounds, but it was worth every ounce” (329). The soldiers in the Vietnam War did anything they could to protect themselves. Even carrying a 2-pound poncho to protect them from getting sick was worth the struggle to them because their main goal was survival. In addition to carrying a 2-pound poncho to protect from getting sick, they carried many different weapons-- “the M-60, M-16, and M-79--they carried whatever presented itself, or whatever seemed appropriate as a means or killing or staying alive” (331). Not only did these soldiers carry equipment as part of their survival, but they also made sure to stick together.

Another Vietnam War survival technique is grouping together. Even though soldiers had their own unique missions and ways to stay alive during the war, the soldiers tried to stick together in order to dominate their enemy, or to be watched out for in case of death. In O'Brien’s story after the death of one of his soldiers, he “led his men into the village of Than Khe. They burned everything. They shot chickens and dogs, they trashed the village well, they called in artillery and watched the wreckage, then they marched for several hours through the hot afternoon, and then at dusk, while Kiowa explained how Lavender died…” (336). Losing a soldier was like losing a family member. Since the war was considered the longest war in American history, soldiers stuck together and supported each other through the rough times, in order to survive. The war was significant in O’Brien’s text because it shaped the events that occurred during the war such as diseases, everyday lives of the soldiers, warfighting: killing and dying, and survival techniques.

O’Brien’s story is a story based off of his personal experience as a soldier in Vietnam. The historical concepts of the war shape the text. O'Brien's story is about his own experiences and encounters as a soldier in the Vietnam War, and what he was forced to endure/what he had to suffer through. Using the Vietnam War as a historical event to shape the story was useful because it allowed the reader to make connections between the war itself, and O'Brien’s personal story. In addition to allowing readers to make the connection between the war and “The Things They Carried”, the fact that the war was on TV made O'Brien's story about the war easier for Americans to follow and connect to. Much of the Vietnam War was televised back home in America so people saw for themselves what these soldiers went through on their own TV’s. This also allowed Americans to use what they had seen on TV to enhance their experiences while reading the story. Common diseases such as malaria and trench foot, daily lives of soldiers such as completing missions, drinking, carrying heavy equipment, and writing letters home to family members, and their war survival techniques was present in both the Vietnam War as well as in the story “The Things They Carried”.
