Understanding War Trauma: American Soldiers in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was a traumatic experience for everyone that fought on the ground. American soldiers were up close and personal with the Viet Cong (enemy) which made them live in constant fear for their lives. They never knew how they would die or when they would take their last breath, and this thought was always in the back of their minds. The Vietnam War was very brutal, and the amount of death from both sides was enormous. Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” is an accurate description of the Vietnam War. He paints a good, yet brief, description of what the war was like for the American soldiers who fought on the front lines. Being an American soldier who fought on the front lines was stressful, and a lot of men such as the fictional

He writes, “Dave Jensen carried empty sandbags that could be filled at night for added protection” (O’Brien 490). This shows us that he felt fear of being shot while he was defenseless in his sleep. For the Vietnam War this was a very rational fear. The nights were very dangerous because the enemy would sneak up to you and shoot you or slit your throat before you could make any noise. However, it wasn’t just the nights that scared soldiers. Attacks could happen at any moment and it could come in any form, for example; grenades, missiles, gunfire or bobby traps with spikes often took soldiers by

Jimmy Cross for example carried letters and photos of Martha wherever he went. He spent countless hours daydreaming of what life would be like if they were together. Other men also carried extra items that made their time in the patties a little easier. For example, some carried Bibles or condoms. The soldiers also made jokes and told stories to one another to lighten the mood and change the topic at hand. Some soldiers like Ted Lavender used drugs to ease the emotional pain. Tim O’Brien writes “They told stories about Ted Lavender’s supply of tranquilizers, how the poor guy didn’t feel a thing, how incredibly tranquil he was” (65). In addition all men would let loose when they got a day off. They would go to basecamps where they got to swim or see concerts. One soldier states, “the concerts had bad music but we all still had a great time” (Reph). It wasn’t so much the music that they enjoyed, it was the time when they felt safe and didn’t have to worry about being killed, they all got to decompress for a few days. The war was emotionally hard to handle because of all the death and fear. Soldiers did whatever they could to not lose control of their sanity. Although such items or activates don’t seem very comforting they momentarily rerouted the soldier’s