The first 26 pages of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” tell the tale of a group of men in Vietnam and more specifically the loss of one of them. The story seems to revolve around the platoon Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and how he feels at fault for the death of one of his men, Ted Lavender. The story begins telling what each man has carried and how the things they carry can weigh on them. The main character in this mini story is carrying a love for a woman, Martha who does not love him in return. Jimmy Finds himself often daydreaming and distracted by this love and feels he may be “slacking” as a leader because of it. Throughout these 26 pages Jimmy Cross explains that led by him, his platoon is pillaging villages and burning them to the ground for no reason they can understand. From what I know and feel about the Vietnam War this idea is commonplace but how could these men be sent out here on this endless trek through this country with no goal or plan? Upon arriving at the village, Than Khe the platoon comes across a tunnel that they have been instructed to search and then blow up. One man heads down the tunnel and searches it. While this man is down here Jimmy is daydreaming about his Martha at home. Seconds after the man arises from this tunnel, his comrade is taken out in a second feet from him. The lieutenant blames the death on his daydreaming. From this point on he vows to lead these men more effectively and promises to leave is love for Martha alone as it has no place in this war. The burden placed on these men is enormous and how they make it is beyond me but somehow they manage to move on from this horrible scenario and continue to fight a war they don’t understand.
The thing that struck me about this whole scenario is that the men in this war (Vietnam) did not understand what they were there for. How could this be? We have actually sent men to another country to kill people and don’t bother to explain to them why they are their or what the “mission” is?? We put them through physical and emotional trauma for nothing? The worst part of this very sad scenario is that during Vietnam our country had a draft enlisted so these men ,as explained in this story, only joined the armed forced under fear of embarrassment for ducking the draft. They did not choose nor understand the war and in my opinion should have never been sent. The soldiers in this story seem to be living the life of a zombie, they walk day to day just trying to survive and have slowly been hollowed out of any real person they may have been. As I read this I began to wonder to myself what happened to these men. Were they able to go back to any normalcy or happiness? From what I have learned about American history the unfortunate answer is no! Vietnam Veterans were treated unfairly upon their return home, some ended up addicted to the drugs they took to attempt to deal and some never came back at all. To this day we may still possibly have soldiers in Vietnam either living or buried in random unmarked graves throughout the country they invaded for what seems to be no good reason. My uncle was a Vietnam Veteran and when he came back I was told he was mentally unstable and could not handle the transition. His story didn’t end well he spent the last 20 years of his life homeless and on drugs. He rarely discussed the war and refused to seek help with the emotional and physical pain he had endured. He died of an apparent drug overdose at my grandmother’s house and as she had told me at the time, he is finally at peace. His story didn’t have a happy ending as most Veterans of this war didn’t. The only glimmer of hope for our country from this is that maybe, just maybe we have learned something. Hopefully we as a nation will think twice about a war and how it will effect a generation. In closing I would like to also add that it seems this may just be happening. As of our last election Americans as a society wanted out of Iraq and so they voted for a leader that would get them out. Our new president did keep his word and has an exit strategy. So maybe this is a sign that Vietnam did not fail altogether. Maybe these men who carried the entire burden of this war did not die in vain and people will begin to understand that what a soldier is carrying is too much for one man and they need the support of the country they fight for. As a citizen of this country I can only hope that in all wars in the future we send these brave souls into battle over things that matter and when honor them for what they do.
This is a link to a website specifically devoted to all the protest out country had AGAINST the war and occupation of Vietnam.
http://www.essortment.com/vietnam-war-protests-21614.html
