“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian was set during the Vietnam War. The time period, although it is not mentioned, can be inferred from the late 1950’s to the mid 1970’s. The Vietnam War was one of the most brutal wars America has ever fought in. Many Vietnam Veterans went home with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, 15 out of 100 Vietnam veterans returned home with PTSD. All this to say that the characters in this story faced a terrible war that left many incapacitated and scarred or life. The only people they had to rely on were each other. “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian argues the importance of comradery during war time and that outside influences can distract and lead to death. 

 This excerpt was written in 1990 intended to educate readers and tell a true war story. Tim O’Brian argues in another piece by him called “How to Tell a True War Story” that telling a true war story allows the reader to get a sense of what really occurs during war without all the fluff and nonsense that comes along with news reports. This particular story was written during the time of The Gulf War which occurred from 1990 to 1991. I believe that Tim O’Brian specifically published this at this time in order for people to read it and get a sense of war so that they can better understand what was happening in the Gulf War. There is nothing more motivating for a soldier than one’s country rallying behind them. 

Specifically, in this story, Lieutenant Cross is in love with a woman that is back in America. He fantasizes over her and reads her letters every day. He dwells on the question of whether she is a virgin or not and when they are going to be together. This leads him to become distracted and not focused on the task he is preforming during the war. This causes the death of one of his comrades Lavender. The importance of comradery while in war is crucial. If Cross had been focused on protecting his team, then Lavender may not have died. In the book War by Sebastian Junger he references the importance of comradery in war. “The reason First Platoon did not get wiped out had nothing to do with the Apaches flying overhead or the 155s at Blessing; it was because the men reacted not as individuals but as a unit. Stripped to its essence, combat is a series of quick decisions and rather precise actions carried out in concert with ten or twelve other men. In that sense, it's much more like football than, say, like a gang fight. The unit that choreographs their actions best usually wins. They might take casualties, but they win.” He describes that when a team works as a unit they can prevent causalities. If Cross had not been day dreaming about this woman, who in end is realized to not love him, then Lavender would have gone home to his family. 

It is important in a unit of soldiers to make friends. These people are who is going to be ones main support their entire time in the war. The theme of friendship that is present in Tim O’Brian’s work provides a constant reminder of how important friendship is. These men have no one else but themselves. They sleep, eat, and drink together. They miss their families together and they fight for the honor of America together. They rely on each other for entertainment to drown out all the boring happenings while they wait. Martha, the woman who Cross is in love with becomes a motivation at the end for him to work hard and maintain his unit. He burns the letters as a symbol and then proceeds on to not neglect his crew in order to preserve Lavender’s memory. He realizes how important working with the people he is with now versus waiting for a girl that does not want him back. 

This stories inner meaning has not changed over the years. It has simply strengthened. America today still faces the immediate threat of war. The camaraderie of our soldiers is what hold America together and preserve the freedom that we possess. Although the Vietnam War has long passed, O’Brian’s words still relate to what is going on now. O’Brian has said in another excerpt of “The Things They Carried” that, “The bond that men form with each other in the heat of battle is incomprehensible to those who have not experienced warfare for themselves. It's a hard thing to explain to somebody who hasn't felt it, but the presence of death and danger has a way of bringing you fully awake. It makes things vivid. When you're afraid, really afraid, you see things you never saw before, you pay attention to the world. You make close friends. You become part of a tribe and you share the same blood you give it together; you take it together.” (O’Brian 220). This still relates to the wars now and all the wars that proceed into the future. This specific story will always be relevant because friendship and comradery will never die. It stays with every human no matter what decade one is in. 

Overall the story, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian argues the importance of comradery and friendship through war time. The idea of fighting cohesively with a unit provides strong bonds that prevent casualties. The difference of time will never deplete the need for friendship in the world. Bonding together and working as a unit is crucial if one is to stay focused on the task ahead and not dwell on ideas in the future or the past. The way that Tim O’Brian tells this story, makes it a true war story. 
