To get a closer look at the lives of the soldiers in Vietnam, we look towards personal, first hand accounts, and also towards a book, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. Through this book, first hand accounts of veterans, and movies, we see just how much the lives of these soldiers changes and how their lives afterwards are affected.

O’Brien was born in Minnesota in 1946, and has written many different novels. Much like his character Tim O’Brien in the novel, he was drafted to the service in 1968, but decided to accept the notice instead of trying to flee to Canada, like his counterpart in the movie.

Clashes between members of the same

Many critics to this day still argue over whether or not we should have even gone over to Vietnam. Some say that we should have let the Vietnamese fight amongst themselves, instead of letting American men die at the hands of the Viet Cong. Ask many soldiers and they would agree with this statement. The simple fact is that life for a solider in Vietnam wasn’t easy. But still, the men of platoons all over Vietnam fought with the hope that one day, they would use what they knew to find the meaning of life .

A Veteran of Vietnam, John Reiner, cut of his trigger finger as a way to get out of combat. He said, “That was my only way out. I was just a young man. I couldn’t take all of the pain, suffering I saw others going through. I just wanted to go home . This route was not uncommon for soldiers, as the stress of life in Vietnam became too much for many people.

The Things They Carried is not the only title of the book itself, but it also is symbolic of the nature of the war. It refers to all of the items that they had with carry in the jungles of Vietnam. Some carried pantyhose, while others carried moccasins. Some carried M&M’s, while others carried machine guns. By what each person carried, we are allowed to see into that person’s life. By caring these items, it a

Some topics in this essay:
John Reiner, Tim O’Brien, Alpha Company, Dave Jensen, Chris Taylor, Sergeant Elias, Viet Cong, Riley Carried, Finally Rat, United History, innocent villagers, hand accounts, tim o’brien, lives soldiers, tell stories, loved tell stories, loved tell, platoons vietnam,