Members of the public in the United States are always aware of the deployment of American troops to different parts of the world to maintain peace or help other armies fight insurgents. Such missions have earned the United States respect and the citizens usually feel a sense of pride. However, many people are always unaware of the experiences that the soldiers go through. What is important for the citizens is for the soldiers to bring honor to the country so that they can glorify in it. Conventionally, stories about war elicit heroism. Some characters are depicted doing heroic actions that contribute to the success of the mission or at least saving people’s lives. Nevertheless, The Things They Carried lacks such heroism.
Just like any other combat force, the United States soldiers carry heavy artillery. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is in charge of troops that do rounds in Vietnamese villages, probably with the aim of spotting and dealing with belligerents. According to the expectations of most citizens of the United States, the army comprises of well-behaved men who are supposed to act like role models to other armies in the world. However, the squad that Cross leads is made up of men who seem to be reckless and careless. Some of the things that some soldiers carry suggest otherwise. For instance, Lavender, who is the first person to get shot, abuses drugs (marijuana) (O’Brien, 2009). Cross knows that but does not confiscate the drugs. Lavender is shot because of his negligence; he is not vigilant about the surroundings.
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Kiowa, who carries a Bible during the war dramatizes Lavender’s death instead of being sympathetic. Such reaction is unexpected from someone who is a Baptist devout (Gale, n.d). What is interesting is that the soldiers who carry the body of Lavender to wait for the helicopter take the remaining marijuana and use it. If anything, the death of Lavender ought to have been an awakening call for the soldiers to remain sober and vigilant. Perhaps the biggest share of blame ought to have gone to Cross, who was not keen during the mission. Cross uses most of the time thinking about his girlfriend and loses focus of the events. If he had been more keen and strict, Lavender would not have died. The citizens of the United States do not expect soldiers to use drugs during such important missions.
Clearly, Jim Cross’ group at the beginning lack the plan of executing the mission. In fact, a lot of the soldiers engage in wastage. Some soldiers throw away their food stamps because they know that fresh supplies would come in a few days. Secondly, the soldiers use their ammunition wrongfully by bombing rural villages in Vietnam (O’Brien, 2009). Some soldiers fire their weapons with no good reason. Most people in the United States know that war is very costly, at least that is what is said by technocrats. If citizens realized how soldiers used the weapons and ammunition wrongfully, maybe they would advocate for the withdrawal of soldiers from different parts of the world.
From the book, one prominent question begs, do soldiers really commit to their assignments with all their hearts? O’Brien’s book seems to state otherwise. Soldiers usually think about their home country and the people they are closely related to. Cross thinks about Martha and even almost jeopardizes the mission. Some soldiers are also not as brave as citizens imagine. As mentioned in the book, some soldiers go up to the extent of shooting their toes or fingers so that they are withdrawn from the mission. In regard to the Vietnam War, many Americans were divided. Some people felt that the soldiers ought to have been withdrawn while others advocated for their retention. The people who wanted the soldiers withdrawn from Vietnam argued that many soldiers had been lost. However, in O’Brien’s book, it can be argued that some of the deaths could have been avoided. It emerges that some soldiers lacked the discipline during the mission. Even worse, senior ranking soldiers who were in charge of juniors failed to maintain order among the troops. For instance, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen engage in a fistfight at the watch of Jim Cross (O’Brien, 2009). O’Brien also kills a man who is innocent during the war.
The group of soldiers of which O’Brien is part of moves around kicking bodies of dead people and mocking them. At one particular instance, one soldier cuts the thumb of dead boy and carries it around with the aim of having good fortune. Another soldier even carries the foot of a rabbit to also have good fortune during the war (Gale, n.d). Evidently, the group of soldiers which Cross leads is comprised of young soldiers, who also do not understand the weight of the task they are given.
Conclusively, the behavior and attitude of the soldiers in O’Brien’s book demonstrates that a significant number of the United States citizens did not find any relevance in the Vietnam War. Since Vietnam was not important to the United States, the soldiers bomb and burn villages deliberately. Secondly, the soldiers make fun of the dead bodies of Vietnam civilians. The soldiers are unruly and most probably think that they are on an adventure mission. They use the weapons and ammunition recklessly perhaps with the aim of disposing them in Vietnam. Clearly, the actions of the soldiers indicate that Americans were against the deployment of troops to Vietnam.
References
Gale, C. L. (n.d.). Study guide for tim o'brien's things they carried . Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning.
O’Brien, T. (2009). The things they carried . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
