[Name of the Writer]

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“The Things They Carried”

Introduction

It was a sunny afternoon in 1968, when I, Norman Bowker, among my fellow valorous men (except a little chicken-hearted friend, Ted lavender) constituting the alpha team, was off to Vietnam (Wright, 2008). When normally army men pack before going to war, they would ensure carrying necessities or the things that would be needed. While I packed important stuff like water canteen, Kool Aid, payment certificates, flak jackets, a poncho to serve as tent in rain etc (O'Brian, 1991, pp. 281). It was surprising to discover what other soldier men thought as their necessities.

Discussion

We were nineteen men in the team, everyone very different and unique in their respects. Our leader, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, was a lover in the army uniform. He was a dreamer, who dreamt with his eyes open. I could see him wandering in his thoughts, and his habit of digging a foxhole and carefully reading the letters from his girl friend, Martha (who he was not even sure reciprocated his love) was so awkward and puzzling for me (http://www.rajuabju.com). He would carefully un-wrap the letters, and read them visualizing something every night, as if it was his holy book he had to recite with clean hands. He would come and move around with us, to execute his duty, but his thoughts were always preoccupied with Martha. I thought that if a person loves someone so dearly and is a high ranked officer in the army, how come he never had the courage to unleash his feelings to the girl? He probably would just envisage taking courageous steps. He was a virtuous leader with physical burden of compasses maps and a huge responsibility of the team on his shoulders.

Other fellow comrades like Michael Sanders was our father figure, but ...