Luke Taicher

English 101
Mr. Padget
11/3/15
The Troubled
The sixties can be described by rebellion, peace, civil rights, war, drugs and
rock and roll, and a counterculture that swept the country. The attitude of the late
sixties toward war was hostile and angry. The Vietnam War was unlike any other war
in American history. The war was a long drawn out battle of capitalism vs.
communism. The war began in 1954 but not until the mid to late sixties was the war
at its height. The war came to a conclusion in 1975 when the Vietcong seized
Saigon. This was the first war where the mass media covered the war and exposed
the horrors of it. The American people struggled to find meaning in whether what
they were fighting for was worth it. The soldiers were treated with no respect after
risking their lives overseas and were shun from society and protested against. One
vet speaks about his homecoming, We were treated like outcasts, blamed for a war
we didnt start, accused of killing innocent women and children, called dope heads,
spit at and ridiculed by citizens most of the way to Michigan, (Homecoming for
Vietnam Veterans). The soldiers in todays society returning from Afghanistan or the
Middle East are greeted with Thank you for your service, and welcomed into the
arms of America. Soldiers experienced a great deal of horrors over in Vietnam and
coming home to be further exposed to disapproval and horrors rather than coming
home to welcoming arms and gratuity made it that much harder for those soldiers.
The Vietnam War is known as one of the most grueling and horrifying wars because

of the terrain, the ability of the opposition to fight relentlessly, the attitude of the
home front, and the mass media covering the war. The text helps us better
understand the historical and cultural time period by speaking of the lifestyle of the
soldiers, their struggles with coping, and their adjustment of life back home.
The life of a soldier has always been a somber, violent, and tragic life no
matter where one is from. For America it dates back to the Revolution and
unshackling of oppression from the British where the American militia fought
through the cold winters with little medicine, weaponry, and supplies, the Civil War
where family and brothers from different sides of the country fought for their cause,
to the first World War where soldiers suffered the rapid bullets of the machine gun,
to the second World War where soldiers crushed the aggression of fascism and
world dominance and risked their lives on the beaches of Normandy where death
was almost a guarantee, to the Vietnam War to stop communism, to the Middle East
to protect the innocent from weapons of mass destruction and purely evil terrorist
groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The things soldiers see haunt them for years after
and often trouble them for the rest of their lives. The text supports the claim to life
as a soldier excellently. The soldiers in Vietnam were often drafted and did not know
or necessarily agree with what they were fighting for. Throughout the text Tim
OBrien speaks of what the soldiers went through, took with them, and witnessed.
He speaks a great deal of what the soldiers carried on a normal basis. He speaks of
what the officers and each rank had on them, As first lieutenant and platoon
leader, Jimmy Cross carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, and a .45caliber pistol that weighed 2.9 pounds fully loaded. He carried a strobe light and the
responsibility for the lives of his men. As an RTO, Mitchell Sanders carried the PRC
radio, a killer, 26 pounds with its battery, (OBrien 305). Soldiers would lug through

dense woods with heavy equipment as OBrien described, not knowing where their
enemy was an often times attacked from all sides of the forest. The life of war was
fast and unstable, one moment you could joking around with a friend, to that friend
being struck with a bullet and lifeless. OBrien describes an experience where a
soldier was shot out of nowhere, a soldier was examining a tunnel, Lee Strunk
made a funny ghost sound, a kind of moaning, , right then Ted Lavender was shot
in the head on his way back from peeing. Oh shit, Rat Kiley said, the guys dead.
The guys dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound-the guys dead. I mean
really, (OBrein 309). This quote really displays how one minute a soldier was full of
life taking a pee, something each one of us do everyday, to lifeless on the ground,
mouth open, teeth broken. By highlighting the fragility of life the author is hoping to
display to the viewer who may be a student, a normal business man, or an army
veteran, that people died all the time in war. The soldiers were drafted and had no
choice to be there risking their lives where at any moment they could be killed. That
just how life was as a soldier, life was so precious, soldiers dropped left and right.
The Vietnam soldiers were known for their sneaky guerilla like tactics and were
excellent at using their surroundings to benefit them in a land American soldiers
were unfamiliar with. OBrein talks about what the soldiers carried with them
referring to, they carried the land itself-Vietnam, the place, the soil, The whole
atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and
decay, all of it, they carried it, (OBrein 310). All of these things the soldiers carried
with them, that became their life, not the life of eating dinner with their family, not
going on a date with their wives or girlfriends, not playing sports, not living the way
we do. By repeating what they carried it reinforces the idea that this was really all
they had, that the things they carried were their life, a part of them. Their life

consisted of disorder and anarchy, which represented the Vietnam War abroad and
back home in America.
Witnessing death is something that many people cannot cope with let alone
understand. Throughout the course of history and war, soldiers have witnessed
horrors whether that was witnessing the countless beheadings at the hand of the
guillotine during the French Revolution, the helpless Jews in the concentration
camps, or the killing of babies during Vietnam, or seeing children with bombs
strapped to their chest in the Middle East. Coping with death is a very hard thing to
do and as we can see throughout history people have still struggled to cope with
mass amounts of death. The Vietnam War was especially hard for soldiers to cope
with because of the mass media coverage and the brutality of both sides. Soldiers
would come home and instead of being welcomed they were shunned from society
and spit on and protested against. Often times the soldiers were drafted and didnt
want to be there or didnt fully understand why they were there. Soldiers had lucky
charms and relics they held dearly to help them cope with what they saw and what
they were doing. Until he was shot Ted Lavender carried 6 or 7 ounces of premium
dope, which for him was a necessity. Mitchell Sanders, the RTO, carried condoms.
Norman Bowker carried a diary. Rat Kiely carried comic books. Kiowa carried an
illustrated New Testement, first lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl
named Martha, (OBrien 303, 304). The soldiers carried these to get them through
the horrifying day and in some cases they became obsessed with these objects.
OBrien speaks of how the letters Lieutenant Cross carried with him distracted his
judgement and role as an officer. He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved
Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this
was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the

war, (OBrien 311). Soldiers had so much trouble coping with what they saw they
became so entangled in a fake world created by things such as letters and objects
that they let them get in the way of their judgment. Some people could not cope
with the demons of war, They spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by
shooting off their own toes or fingers, (OBrien 314). It makes the reader
appreciate what they have and how lucky they may be that they dont have to
resort to inflicting that much pain on themselves just to release themselves from a
situation. Hearing stories of people doing something as extreme as that to escape a
situation gives a clear idea of how horrible the Vietnam War was. OBrien speaks of
how people would not speak of what they saw and joke on how they barely escaped
the tense moment they just occurred. This isnt surprising because it helped them
get through the horror they just experienced and helped stray their minds from
what they may have just seen. The Vietnam War will forever be known as a solemn
time in American history and those that experienced it, experienced it with great
struggle.
Coming back from war is not an easy thing to do, you go from seeing your
brothers blown to bit, constant havoc and devastation, to a life of ease and status
quo for the most part. Soldiers are welcomed home with pampering arms and
thanked for their service. My uncle served for twenty years in the army, fighting in
Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He spoke of coming home and having problems with
his everyday life. He couldnt drive for six months because of the stress he endured
overseas. He spoke of an incident where his best friend was in an army hummer
ahead of him that was blown up. It is hard to understand and almost impossible to
understand what these people went through. Having to come home and try to leave
those experiences and memories behind is impossible. My uncle says what he saw

still haunts him to this day. The Vietnam War was at a critical point in American
history where the home front did not support the war and demanded for an end.
The soldiers didnt want to be there and when they came home they were never
thanked or welcomed back. They spit at from the moment they walked on American
soil to when they were grocery shopping. A soldier speaks of his experience, When
arriving home, I was dumbfounded, ashamed, and depressed about our treatment
so this is the thanks for putting our lives on the line and for sacrificing what we did
during the past year! I began questioning myself was I right in going to fight in
Vietnam or did I make the wrong decision? I soon discovered that it was better to
not advertise and just keep quiet! (Homecoming for Vietnam Veterans). These
soldiers went through hell to come back to being ripped apart and question whether
what went through and saw was worth it. Troops that have come through in almost
every war were welcomed and appreciated knowing they fought for a good cause.
There are exceptions in todays society with the Westboro Baptist church protesting
soldiers funerals, though those actions are not widespread among almost all
Americans. These soldiers were expelled from a society as a whole, the counter
culture movement that took over the American culture disapproved and treated the
soldiers as second hand citizens. According to a survey by the Veterans
Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam
suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide,
alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans, (Vietnam
War History). The numbers shown in this survey display the troubles the soldiers
had with coming home and dealing with what they experienced. Those numbers are
horrifying, it makes one raise the question what if these soldiers were treated with
respect and compassion among returning home from one of the worst wars in

American history. The treatment of these soldiers arriving home has to make the
people of the United States feel lucky that after treating these heroic men so poorly
they kept fighting until the war was over. As a reader it is important to put oneself in
the shoes of the soldiers. Imagine coming back after losing almost everything, your
friends, your sanity, and your innocence and coming home looking for support to
get through this tough time. Instead of support the soldiers got outcaste and viewed
at as baby killers. This war was not supported by the home front and the resilience
of the Japanese made it one of the hardest fought war. The soldiers did not fully
understand and agree with why they were fighting. It makes one question the dark
period our nation went through during this period and wonder what our nation was
thinking. Dealing with tragic events its not an easy thing to do and is something
that we need to continue to work on.
The 1960s was a very important period in our history. It was a time where
the country experienced a great cultural shift and dealt with many foreign
aggressions. Those that went to Vietnam, witnessed the eight dead at Kent State,
and those that protested the government all shared the cultural change and
stability. The Vietnam War was one of the darkest wars our nation has experienced
and Tim OBrien brings the time period to life by portraying a soldiers life, shows the
trouble soldiers went through coping with what they saw, and the difficulty returning
home. The sixties and the Vietnam War will always be a reminder of a dark,
influential, and intense time period in our history.
Luke,
Youve done a really great job compiling your research here and using it in concert
with Tim OBriens terrific story. You offer a really interesting survey of the history

and the cultural climate at the time. I am having trouble identifying a specific
direction/message you are making about the text and the culture of the time. You
make mention multiple times of how difficult it would be to imagine certain pains
and certain sufferings. Im not sure this needs to be pointed out. I was much more
interested in your discussion of how the vets were treated upon their return from
war, and I wanted to hear more. I feel like that topic was introduced and then left
without further analysis. Like I said, you have an impressive survey here but, of the
topics you cover, I dont think youre digging deep enough into one of these really
interesting topics. I feel like you could write a twenty page paper here, you have so
much great stuff.

MLA Citation
A.) "The Homecoming for Vietnam Veterans." Cherries A Vietnam War Novel. N.p., 26 Nov.
2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.
B.) "Vietnam War History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.