The Things They Carried
1
Comp. II
Essay #1
Two Wars
For the era of the Vietnam War, it was definitely most advanced in technology. Yet it was almost impossible for the soldiers to overcome the war because there were no war limitations. The combats were more horrendous and petrifying in the Vietnam War. The soldiers also worried about the weather, land, viruses and more important their selves. The many physical and physiological factors of war multiplies the burdens of stress on the soldiers. In The Things They Carried, the soldiers had a duty of fighting two wars at once, an external war and an internal war.
Externally, they were combating against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. There was no frontline and no sure method of classifying the enemy because regular residents would attack the armed forces in addition to the North Vietnamese military. It seems that every soldier were on their own. Some days the war can be nice and not as violent like Ted Lavender saying “We got ourselves a mellow war today.” As a soldier, you have to always have your guard up because you will never know when you are under attack, in a mine field, or in any type of danger. Since the war so technically advanced in medicine, more wounded fighters were able to recuperate from injuries caused by shrapnel and concussion grenades, land mines, and other weapons. A soldier that walk on a mine would only suffer from loss of a leg or arm instead of death. Tim O'Brien survived two bullet injuries and an almost gangrene infection. In past wars, a gunshot wound would have killed from the bullet, loss of blood, or infections from wounds. They had to fight the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese along with the dysentery, ringworm, mosquitoes, leeches, gangrene, and wounds in one day only having to get up the next sunrise and combat the same problems every day.
2
Internally, the soldiers were battling adulthood and maturity. Soldiers were constantly striving to stay young through the war that
Comp. II
Essay #1
Two Wars
For the era of the Vietnam War, it was definitely most advanced in technology. Yet it was almost impossible for the soldiers to overcome the war because there were no war limitations. The combats were more horrendous and petrifying in the Vietnam War. The soldiers also worried about the weather, land, viruses and more important their selves. The many physical and physiological factors of war multiplies the burdens of stress on the soldiers. In The Things They Carried, the soldiers had a duty of fighting two wars at once, an external war and an internal war.
Externally, they were combating against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. There was no frontline and no sure method of classifying the enemy because regular residents would attack the armed forces in addition to the North Vietnamese military. It seems that every soldier were on their own. Some days the war can be nice and not as violent like Ted Lavender saying “We got ourselves a mellow war today.” As a soldier, you have to always have your guard up because you will never know when you are under attack, in a mine field, or in any type of danger. Since the war so technically advanced in medicine, more wounded fighters were able to recuperate from injuries caused by shrapnel and concussion grenades, land mines, and other weapons. A soldier that walk on a mine would only suffer from loss of a leg or arm instead of death. Tim O'Brien survived two bullet injuries and an almost gangrene infection. In past wars, a gunshot wound would have killed from the bullet, loss of blood, or infections from wounds. They had to fight the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese along with the dysentery, ringworm, mosquitoes, leeches, gangrene, and wounds in one day only having to get up the next sunrise and combat the same problems every day.
2
Internally, the soldiers were battling adulthood and maturity. Soldiers were constantly striving to stay young through the war that