By reading the story The Things They Carried, we can see the Vietnam War through the eyes of soldiers. We learn about their living conditions; and the different jobs and missions of the men. We also see the effects that the war had on them emotionally and mentally. These men were forced to grow up. These are a few of the many hardships soldiers endured during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was from 1954 to April 30, 1975. The Vietnam War was the longest war in United States history, before the war in Afghanistan in 2001 (UShistory.org). The war was between South and North Vietnam, but the United States intervened to help South Vietnam in 1965 (History.com). President Lyndon B Johnson ordered the immediate dispatch of thousands of troops. 

Another way troops were sent to war was through the draft. The draft is a system for selecting young men for compulsory military service; it is administered in the United States by the Selective Service System (Dictionaty.com). Men were basically being forced to go to war. In the United States of America, it is the law for men to register for the draft. All men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years old are required to register for the draft. If you fail to register for the draft, you could be given a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine; and/or serve five years in prison (USgovinfo.about.com). In Tom Weiner’s Called to Serve: Stories of Men and Women Confronted by the Vietnam War Draft, He talks about the process of being drafted. He was not drafted because of marijuana use. “I watched as others around me went to Vietnam or did everything they could to not go to Vietnam” (Weiner 145).  A lot of men did not want to go to war. The soldiers were very young. The average age of a soldier was twenty-one (History.com).  Jimmy Cross was a First Lieutenant at twenty-four years old (Brien 334). At twenty-four years old he had to be responsible for 18 lives including his own. Could you imagine how that felt? At twenty-four years old, his job was to make sure that every soldier made it through the day. That was a big responsibility. 

Life was not easy for a soldier. The men did a lot of walking; and they had to carry book bags field with gear and other items. There were times where a soldier’s book bag would weigh over fifty pounds. “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity” (Brien 328). They were in foreign land, so of course disease was in issue. In The Things They Carried, Rat Kiley; the medic, carried malaria tablets. Malaria is a life-threatening disease that is typically transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito (Healthline.com). Many soldiers missed home. Lieutenant Cross cherished his letters from Martha. Martha was “lover”, so the letters meant a lot to him. “Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his neck as a comforter” (Brien 332). Each soldier had a different way of coping with the war; and that was fine. 

In the article, Who Fought in Vietnam, Gimbel writes “During the Vietnam War, a soldier was not assigned to combat immediately on entry into the war” (p 1137). Not all soldiers fought, there were different jobs in the army. In The Things They Carried, Rat Kiley was a medic (Brien 330). He did not carry guns and ammo like the other soldiers because that was not his job. He carried morphine, surgical tapes, and many other items. Different items were required for different missions. “When a mission took them to the mountains, they carried mosquito netting, machetes, canvas tarps, and extra bug juice” (Brien 332). Death was one of the casualties of war. People were being killed left and right. Over 57,939 American armed forces were killed or missing during the Vietnam War (History.com). In The Things They Carried, Ted Lavender was shot and killed. He didn’t die during combat or a mission; he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fighting in the war had a toll on them mentally and emotionally. These soldiers were not just at war with the enemy, but they were at war with themselves. The men were fighting mental and emotional battles every day. 

Per to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some five-hundred thousand of the three million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (History.com). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious condition that can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or terrifying experience in which serious physical harm occurred or was threatened (Webmd.com). One of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder is extreme guilt. “He would accept the blame for what had happened to Ted Lavender” (Brien 341). Lieutenant Jimmy Cross had PTSD after the death of Ted Lavender.        “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” (Brien 336).   He felt like he was responsible for Lavender’s death; and that maybe if he would not have been so focused on Martha, he would still be alive. This is something that will be with Cross for the rest of his life. He did not get to grieve the death of his fellow soldier. 

By looking at the life of a soldier that was deployed in Vietnam, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried” allow us to see that these men were not adequately prepared for war. They were battling with things on and off the battle field. The war had a toll on these men mentally and emotionally. We could see the war through the eyes of the soldiers. It allowed us to learn about personal experiences, this story appealed to our emotions. It was not easy for these men. They were forced to grow up and go fight in a war, that originally had nothing to do with the United States of America. The legal age in America is eighteen years old, but your age does not determine you being an adult. Being considered an adult depends on your mental; and these men were not mentally prepared for this war. 
