I would have never imagined that someone could tell such an interesting story basing themselves solely on the things soldiers carry with them. Tim O'Brien is such a talented writer that he was able to do just that. I had never heard or read the a personal story from a Vietnam war veteran, so I was rather uninformed when it came to the war in Vietnam. But when I read 'The Things They Carried', I was really able to paint a picture in my head concerning that war. O'Briens puts so much delail into his writing that it almost makes you feel as if you were there with him when it all happened. He gives detailed information about every item that each one of the men who were with him carried. He tells us the personal things that they carried, along with the weapons each one had. He also tells us the weight of each one of their items so that we can calculate about how much weicht each one of them was carrying. And then he goes on to describe the terrain and all the walking that they had to do. They had to walk long distances every day through the jungle, up and down hills, through swamps, in the rain and in the intense heat and humidity. And the whole time they each had to carry about a couple hundred pounds of extra weight with them.
He also tells us how the men felt and the things they did to cope with everything that was going on around them. For example, he tells us that one of the men would always carry marijuana with him and would smoke it regularly. Another one would carry letters from the girl that he was in love with and would read them regularly and daydream about her and zone out to the point that he was sometimes unaware of what was going on around him. They each had different ways of dealing with their situation. O'Brien did an awesome job of telling this story and I have personally learned alot about the Vietnam war and the lives of some of the brave soldiers who took part in it.
Here's the link for the image: http://ronaldarichardson.com/2008/01/30/the-things-they-carried/
And here's a link to a site with info on all the weapons used during the Vietnam war: http://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/vietnam_war_weapons.asp
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