The Things They Carried

      In The Things They Carried, the first chapter is actually called "The Things They Carried" and while it tells the related stories of Martha, a college student back in the States, and Jimmy Cross, the lieutenant of the troop, along with the death of Ted Lavender, the bulk of the short story is about the items the soldiers in Vietnam carried with them on their tours. Of course, the obvious things were hoisted upon their person, such as ammunition and other necessities for the war. Tim O'Brien stresses the weight of all these things, which sounds daunting when you're reading about all these items and seeing all these numbers accumulating with each addition. But there are other things the soldiers carry, keepsakes to ground them to reality, to remind them of home, remind them of a time and place away from the Hell they're in. While these things have a physical weight, what seems to weigh the most is the emotional baggage that accompanies these items and haunts the soldiers' minds.

      This short story got me thinking about my cousins on my father's side of the family. While I only ever see them a few times a year if I'm lucky, I'm very close with them and have always sort of looked up to them as brothers who lived very far away from me. Both of them serve in the military and have been stationed overseas in hostile environments. My cousin Jeff currently has been serving six months in one of the Middle East countries; I can't remember which though, possibly Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran. This story made me wonder what they carried and how much weight they had pressing down on their shoulders so far away from Thanksgiving meals full of laughter and family.

      One thing is for sure, the further I read into Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, the more respect I have for what my cousins have gone through.