“In was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor (O’Brien 20) .” War causes people to enter a new world that to most people seems nothing like the old.
The life they had is now gone, which brings these men nothing but a fierce attack of new worries and emotions. “War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love (O’Brien 76) .” The everyday soldiers never knew what they were going to run into and what was to come up. They always had to worry, but they had to keep going. “War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; War is arguery. War makes you a man; War makes you dead (O’Brien 76) .” Amid war, you must always be alert and never let your guard down. War is something that you always have to have your head in the game. War is not something to be laid back on, you need to have your head up and go. (8)
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When they blame, they blame on a grand and an individual level. “In any circumstance, it might’ve ended there. But it was Vietnam; where guys carried guns, and Dave Jensen started to worry (O’Brien 59-60) .” There is guilt and blame over a couple of simple things, such as a stolen jackknife and a broken nose. The presence of guns puts a lot more tension on the guilt and blame aspect and makes them a lot worse. “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war (O’Brien 58) .” O’Brien has let fear and shame get the best of him. For him, the best thing to do would be strong and not run away. (7)
Most soldiers have PTSD coming out of the war, which causes them to have panic attacks. “I had a massive panic attack (Junger) .” This connects to the prompt because he had trauma from fighting in a war. He says “ The trains were going too fast, there were too many people, the lights were too bright, everything was too loud and moving too quickly.” He could not take it anymore so he ran out of the subway and figured out later that he had short-term PTSD. “You want to have nightmares and flashbacks of the things that could kill you (Junger) .” You want to be angry because it is pre-exposed to fight or be depressed. The panic attacks eventually will go away. (8)
Of all the things the men carry, the greatest burden is their emotions. War causes people to enter a new world that to most people seems nothing like the old. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien he talks about war, the truth of it, and how it affected the soldiers.
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