In "The Things They Carried," O'Brien made reference to the aspect of the Vietnam War that was closely associated with the physical, psychological, and emotional weight the soldiers bared. The overall method of presentation of this story incorporated many different outlooks on the things the soldiers carried, dealt with, and were forced to adapt to. In addition to this, O'Brien showed us the many reasons why the soldiers possessed these things individually, as well as collectively. Also showing us how they were associated directly and indirectly. The strong historical content in "The Things They Carried" helped emphasize the focus of the story and establish a clearer understanding of details in the narrative and moods of the war itself. From this, we are able to draw conclusions and assumptions to the events as it relates to the Vietnam War.
             Three areas that "The Things They Carried" established and elaborated upon were the youthfulness of the Vietnam soldiers, their language and thought patterns, and the actual tangible and intangible things they carried.
             During Vietnam, soldiers were selected by the draft to fight in the war. Many families lost their youth through this process that immediately forced young boys to leave home and train for war. Even in O'Brien's narrative, he portrays the soldiers as being young. In the opening of the story, we immediately see a young man, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who is deeply in love with a college girl. On page 13, we find out that he is only twenty-four. Throughout the story we find many exhibits of the youthfulness of the soldiers including their dialect, playfulness, and the things they carried such as drugs and condoms.
             Vietnam made a big portion of history also through its use of slang and war specified language. This language came about through many means including; its adaptation to the Vietnamese language, coded words, phrases, profanity and initials that rep
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