Veterans of the Vietnam war, because of the horrific obscenities of war and maltreatment returned to the United States emotionally broken with unstable mental states like the soldiers in the excerpt of “The Things They Carried.” Many returning in this condition because of the unspeakable things they had to do in war because they were simply following orders. By looking at personal accounts from soldiers specifically situated in the period and from the war as well examining their literary works created as a form of self-therapy, the reader can better understand some of emotions caused by the experiences of the Vietnam War.

First, utilizing an article called” 'I Want to Come Home': Vietnam-Era Veterans' Presenting for Mental Health Care, Roughly 40 Years After Vietnam” it becomes much easier to understand the Vietnam war as a whole as it analyzes the relationships between traumatic events and the emotional responses that those who witnessed the events were unable to express. An examination of PTSD in Vietnam era soldiers proved quite difficult as very few were willing; it lists several personal accounts of the trauma, the feelings of these soldiers towards getting help, and how what occurred in their service changed their psychological state making it more violent and less positive. Many service members who witnessed combat related traumatic situations will never report symptoms of PTSD in fear of being singled out and many are said seldom come forward for any sort of help and instead “Withdrew within themselves” (Desai, et al. 2). Many soldiers felt as though however, “I wasn’t like this before I went in the service,” (Desai, et al. 2) this specifically illuminating the fact that they understood that the war had changed something within their patterns of thinking. It is by this time that many of the people in Vietnam were on their second or third tours, many not wanting to return after the first. Cowardice though was considered much worse than death; there was no room for it in the war and there was an intense fear of being called a coward and being said to have no valor.  As it is said in the text on page 339 of “The Things They Carried” excerpt in The Carolina Reader “They sneered at sick call. They spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by shooting off their own toes or fingers. Pussies, they’d say. Candy asses” (O’Brien). Also saying “They imagined muzzle against flesh. So easy: squeeze the trigger and blow away a toe. They imagined it. They imagined the quick sweet pain, then the evacuation to Japan, then a hospital with warm beds and cute geisha nurses” (O’Brien). These statements all full of “manliness and strength” the men had to be tough and strong. From this many soldiers had to go on completing tasks that no legitimately sane person would do. These horrible, gruesome orders coming from the top down. They were following orders and as they carried the mental baggage of things before the war. Nothing weighted down soldiers more than the mental weight of all the unspeakable things they had to do and endure during the war. Having to shoot men, women, and children because they were ordered to; they knew it was immoral and wrong but the only other choice was to go against these orders and forever labeled a coward in combat. Razing whole villages, low crawling through VC tunnels in darkness to ensure they were empty before blowing them shut. 

Next, this all changes the understanding about exactly why many of these soldiers developed PTSD. These soldiers if they didn’t die in combat or putting a bullet in their own heads from the nightmares of war, would now forever have to carry the weight of all the deeds they committed in war. An instance where this is followed almost verbatim is after Ted Lavender’s death in The Things They Carried where Kiowa was talking about how specifically he died and Lieutenant Cross while digging “felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war.”  Carrying this mental weight was what caused the mentally diminished mentalities of these veterans. One such veteran from the articles study saying “Give me some meaning so I can enjoy life a little bit more… the top of my mind is dying. I lay in bed and I don’t care if I wake up the next day or not…” (Desai, et al. 2). The thoughts presented here are clearly not one of those in sound mental health and if fact sound like that of someone calling out for help. Having severe cases of depression and extremely dark thoughts affected an unusually large percent of this population. Having negative thoughts were common and are the only thing that kept these service members from “going over the deep end.” Understanding that the population of those in the Vietnam war struggled mentally from the events that occurred is easier seen when shown in the article ‘I want to come home’ as although The Things They Carried has some autobiographical elements, parts of it is still fiction. The statements and experiences given by the participants in the study of ’I want to come home’ however are 100% real, not superficial. This allows the reader to see how these men and women were prior to, during, and after the war; there are massive changes in attitude as well as their perspective on life.

Lastly for those who were never able to able to seek help without fear, some turned to writing “as a substitute for psychoanalytic therapy” (Alsina Risquez). In many cases, it wouldn’t be considered smart to not seek mental health care if these veterans needed it, however many didn’t consider it as a treatment option, but only as a last resort.  Soldiers simply could not talk about it to anyone even the VHA because of the possibility of being “Labeled as a scaredy cat, a cry baby...” (Desai, et al. 2). It’s interesting to see how far people would go to not talk to the government about issues because the level of mistrust after Vietnam. The article ‘Dissent as a therapy’ elaborates on this with a statement from Joseph Urgo a leader of the VVAW (Vietnam Veterans against the War) as with the statement “Listening to the testimonies of the veterans accusing the US military of crimes against humanity had a tremendous impact on me in helping me grasp how criminal what the United States had done in Vietnam was” (Alsina Risquez). Soldiers knew what they were did in Vietnam was wrong so they needed to talk through it mentally to accept what they did and stop living in a nightmare of denial from the savagery of what occurred. A piece shown in ‘Dissent as therapy’ that is a veteran’s expression of what occurred, “After our war, the dismembered bits all those pierced eyes, ear slivers, jaw splinters, gouged lips, odd tibias, skin flaps, and toes came squinting, wobbling, jabbering back . . .” (Alsina Risquez). Without pieces like this existing many just think war and “yeah war is bad”; much, much beyond that the Vietnam war was incredibly horrific and including the article helps the reader understand specific details that are often left out of stories and history books. Looking directly at the work it shows hardened sadness and depression, even hatred; readers of The Things They Carried would not be able to grasp this sadness and most definitely not the hatred that many veterans had for the war and what they had to do. When ‘Dissent as therapy’ is included it makes it much easier to analyze those emotions and see how the distrust of the government existed, this distrust making seeking mental health help not an option. 

In the final analysis, it is shown that literary escape and seeking help was and still is utilized by a very small percentage of veterans. Reading through their statements it becomes much easier to understand exactly why so many of these veterans don’t ever seek any help in the first place. The small amount of information though makes the attitudes and actions of the soldiers of The Things They Carried that may seem incredibly morbid and screwed up, more straightforward and understandable.
