Tim O’Brien’s short story, “The Things They Carried” describes the physical items the soldiers carried and the emotional distress that came with leaving home for years at a time.  Emotional hardships were frequent among veterans of all wars, but the Vietnam War veterans experienced abuse like no other.

The United States entered Vietnam in 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson as a result of the First Indochina War.  Tensions were astronomical because the US was in the middle of the Cold War, and that alone brought great apprehension to American citizens.  Once US troops entered Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism overseas (The Red Scare), American citizens did not agree with the government’s decision to put ‘boots on the ground.’  During the 1960’s, the hippie movement was in full force, and the saying was “make love, not war.”  The war was not widely opposed at first, but after a couple of years into the conflict, American citizens began to wonder why the US was intervening in what was essentially a civil war that did not involve the United States at all.  The Vietnam War was the first televised war in history, and it was described as, “It is like the war is in your living room.”  Another reason that Americans protested the war was because there was neither a clear enemy nor a clear cause for the United States.

The emotional hardship for Vietnam veterans, as described in “The Things They Carried,” was not only a result of absence from loved ones and home, but they struggled from the presence of blame that was placed on them for only doing what they were required to do.  O’Brien goes into detail by describing Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’s distress regarding Martha, the girl he cares for, but had to leave behind.  He entails Cross’s longing to return home by expressing his constant thought of Martha, and Cross heavily blames himself for the death of his platoon-mate, Ted Lavender, on his unyielding thoughts of Martha.  Lavender’s death causes Cross even more emotional distress because of their close relationship, which is similar to Cross’s relationship with Martha.  For the families in the United States, many found it hard to send their sons off to a civil war between two foreign countries with no clear, identifiable enemy.  For example, World War II was called a ‘black and white’ war because there was a clear enemy, and the United States had a clear motive in the war.  Alternatively, the Vietnam War did not directly involve the US until troops were deployed to Vietnam.

Many young men knew that is was probable for them to be drafted into the war, so many decided to go to college to avoid the mandatory selection.  Relating to O’Brien’s short story, the author describes Ted Lavender as being scared of what is to come in combat situations right before he was shot by the Viet Cong.  Troops overseas did not expect the hostile reception from American citizens; soldiers were told to take off their uniforms before arriving home to avoid verbal and even physical abuse.  Referring to World War II once more, veterans were treated as heroes when they returned to the United States because the soldiers had eliminated a global threat, which was not seen as the case in Vietnam.  The hostile reception from Americans was mainly due to the uncertainty, lack of understanding, and perceived lack of purpose for the United States to be involved in the civil war occurring in Vietnam.  