One war that clouds the United States with shame is the Vietnam War. The United States joining the war was an unpopular decision and was resented by many. Many stories have been told from the Vietnam war. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried features the Alpha Company, a United States army unit that fought during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was unique because the United States drafted men to be in the army. This situation was true for some of the men in the Alpha Company, including Tim O’Brien. These men weren’t prepared for war and went into Vietnam with little experience, and this changed their lives. Many of the men in the Alpha Company missed home and having a normal life. They began to see women as a symbol of home and what they wanted their lives to be like, but when they looked closer, they found out that women weren’t any different and were affected by war. Women changed in the stories and the men saw them transform because of the war.
