Substance Abuse In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

“They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak”. Soldier’s risk their lives daily, fighting for their country. Many are unaware of the challenges that are faced upon them. Horrific memories shattered their minds, fear takes over their bodies and blood cover them like a blanked on a cold night. Though the soldiers maybe aware of what they signed up for, they are never truly prepared for what lies ahead of them. Tim O’Brien short essay “The Things They Carried” illustrates numerous accessories a group of soldiers carried on their mission while at war in the Vietnam. Some items consist of physical objects, such as rifles, medical kit, food, ammunition, etc.…

Drugs is another factor that contributes to the escaping of reality. In the military, soldiers use drugs to help calm the overwhelming conditions of war. According, to the update on combat psychiatry article, during the Vietnam war drugs and alcohol were starting to be use by military personals because of stress. The research stated “substance abuse became associated with a number of incidents of misconduct. Although most substance users did not continue use after the war, there was an association with greater long-term psychological morbidity for some” (Ritchie, 3/30). Soldiers uses drugs to escape from the war mentally. This causes them to misbehave and lose sight of the mission at hand. As mentioned, after the war was over most substance users did not continue to use the substance. Clearly the abuse started because of the war, and the stress that comes along with it. The soldiers were dependent on the use drugs to escape the reality of the war. The emotional strain that the war placed on soldiers, cause them to make bad decisions such as abusing

With this type of teaching, men refuse to share their true feelings with anyone. In the army men ought to show strength, and fearlessness; though men might not show their emotions through affection, they often times use jokes to express the way they are really feeling. After Ted Lavender died on his way back from using the restroom. The men sat around and joked. Tim O’Brien said “they were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it, they found jokes to tell, they used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness” (O’Brien 492). Death is often scary especially, if it’s staring someone in the face, but the men during the Vietnam war were afraid to show how terrified they