Tim O Brien, The Things They Carried

Dates: from President Harry Truman's commitment to aid the French forces in Indochina in 1950 to the fall of Saigon in 1975 Reasons: The "domino theory" held that the entire region would "fall" to communism if the U.S. did not support South Vietnam against incursions from the north

map of the Indochina area during the Vietnam War

O'Brien served to Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 (1973) If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home Going After Cacciato, National Book Award in 1979

Characters

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross Platoon leader Bob "Rat" Kiley Young medic Henry Dobbins Machine gunner Kiowa A Native American soldier Ted Lavender - A grenadier Norman Bowker Martha Tim O Brien

LINDA HUTCHEON, The Politics of Postmodernism Autobiographical Metafiction

Youths knowledge of War was through the heroic 1957 CBS program

Tim O'Brien
"I didn't get into writing to make money or get famous or any of that. I got into it to hit hearts, and man, when I get letters not just from the soldiers but from their kids, especially their kids, it makes it all worthwhile."

There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai, I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry
(Aug. 2009).

1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident 1967 Martin Luther King Speaks Out Against War: Calling the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world," 1968 North Vietnamese Launch Tet Offensive 1968 My Lai Massacre 1969 Nixons Policy of "Vietnamization 1971Pentagon Papers Published 1972 Break-In at Watergate Hotel 1973 Cease-fire Signed in Paris: In the words of Nixon, it "brings peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia

Agent Orange Overview

Damage to Vietnam Ecology

use of chemical herbicides and connection between herbicides, particularly Agent Orange, and widespread reports of cancer, skin disease, and other disorders on individuals exposed to them

Last Americans Evacuate Fall of Saigon 1975

Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC Dedicated - Reagan

US and Vietnam Exchange Ambassadors under Clintons administration

O'Brien on Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan:

Obviously there are differences, chief among them the absence of the draft. But there are enough similarities. These are wars in which there are no uniforms, no front, no rear. Whos the enemy? What do you shoot back at? Whom do you trust? At the bottom, all wars are the same because they involve death and maiming and wounding, and grieving mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.

1960s: All young men are required to register for the selective
service and face being drafted into the armed forces to serve in Vietnam. While some young men of wealth and privilege escape the draft by enrolling in college, other objectors who are less fortunate flee to Canada to avoid service, or openly defy the draft and face criminal charges. Former heavy weight champion Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, is among those conscientious objectors who choose jail over military service.

1990s: Though all young men are still required to register with
the selective service when they turn eighteen, the United States armed forces have been strictly voluntary since Nixon ended the draft in 1972.