the things they carried -12

in this part of the book i read from page 68 to 73. In these few pages he talks about the moral of war stories and his views on them. There is no uplifting and good feeling after a war story is told. In most cases of war stories and cannot be believed as a true thing that actually happened. When you think back to the day of the story that your telling it almost seems like it was and or is kind of jumbled in your head. The picture of everything or anything that happened is scary almost unbelievable and just saddening. He also had talked about it was almost beautiful as when his friend Curt Lemon died he stepped on the detonator heard the click looked at all of them smiled and then it was all over. The beautiful part was how the sunlight came around his body and it looked like it took him up into the air and in the trees into the white blossoms of the whole green mossy trees.

the things they carried- 11

 In this part of the book i read from page 65 to 68. These pages were mostle about Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk. They had both signed a paper saying that if either of them got injured or "wheelchair bound" they would kill the other. One day on patrol Strunk stepped on a rigged mortar and his leg got blown off. He begged Jensen not to kill him. He didn't. Somewhere in the jungle over a village called chu in his helicopter he was in Strunk died. Then one of his good friends Rat wrote a letter to his sister about how much of a great man he was. She didnt even respond which was so messed up. Something like that a brother of yours dieing in war and one of his friends writes a letter to you and you don't write back? Thats really messed up.

the things they carried -10

In this part of the book i read from page 60 to 65. In this part of the book he talks about how he left in the morning and Elroy fixed him breakfast. He went outside and Elroy's black pickup was gone. He then went back into the house and waited for him. But he had a certainty that he would not be coming back. He washed the dishes and cleaned everything and then got back in his car and drove south back towards home. He passed through towns with familiar names, through pine forests, down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam where he was a soldier and home again, He had survived but it was not a happy ending. Then in Vietnam he was back at the LZ Gator. He remember Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk were in a fist fight. Dave Jensen had accused Lee of stealing his jackknife. They were in a fist fight for a long time Jensen was much bigger and stronger and had eventually wrapped his arm around Lee's neck and punched him in the nose repeatedly and the men heard a sharp crack noise in his nose. He still kept hitting him. It took 3 men to take Jensen off of him. They took Lee back to the rear by helicopter to get him fixed up. He came back in two days with gauze pads and a metal splint. Jensen thought to himself he Lee wanted revenge it was Vietnam they carried guns and now he was always scared. He had thought if he was in his foxhole what if a grenade just rolled in. He would always make sure if he got split up it wasn't with Lee. He always made his foxhole as far from Lee as possible. He eventually got fed up and went crazy with it and started shooting his weapon in the air and everyone was on the ground laying down. No one had the nerve to go up to him. He then sat down for two or three hours by himself. Then he grabbed the barrel of his pistol and used it as a hammer on his nose until it was broken. He showed Lee and asked if everything was square between them and Lee said yes. In the morning Lee said the man was crazy and he could not stop laughing

the things they carried -9

In this part of the book i read from page 55 to 60. In this part of the book one day Elroy takes him out fishing his last day at the cabin. He realizes as he goes fishing hes 20 miles off the Canadian shore and he feels a sudden tightness and pressure in his chest. He is scared and thinking should i do it? Should i jump in and go? He knew that Elroy had done this on purpose because he knew that Elroy knew and that he was trying to help him. As he was going to jump in he had seen everyone from his past. He had seen people also that would be in his future. The people he saw were his ex girlfriends, cheerleaders with smooth brown thighs, all his aunts and uncles, Abraham Lincoln, Saint George, a nine year old girl named Linda who died of a brain tumor in 5th grade who he had remembered, several members of the U.S senate, a blind poet scribbling notes, and LBJ, and Huck Finn, and Abbie Hoffman, and all the dead soldiers back from the grave, and the thousands who were later to die, he saw villagers with terrible burns, kids without arms or legs, he saw the joint chiefs of staff, and he saw some popes, and a first lieutenant named Jimmy Cross..., and he saw the last surviving american veteran of the civil war, and Jane Fonda dressed up as Barbella, and an old man sprawled beside a pigpen, and my grandfather, and Gary Cooper, and a kind faced woman carrying an umbrella and a copy of Plato's republic, and a million ferocious citizens waving flags of all shapes and colors, people in hard hats, people in head bands, all whooping him towards one shore on the Canadian side or another shore on the American side. His wife and unborn children were there his two sons and one daughter and a drill sergeant named Blyton. This is why he could not jump off the boat going to the Canadian shore. All the people watching him calling him a pussy and or turncoat or such words. The reason he was embarrassed to tell this story was because he started crying and then he couldn't jump off the boat because of all the people watching him he was to scared and embarrassed and he felt as if he had to go to war and he felt the sense of duty and the Elroy turned the boat around and went back to the shore.

the things they carried -8

in this part of the book i read from page 50 to 55. In this part of the book he talks about when he was at the tip top lodge with Elroy. He says he remembers one time when he was laying in his bed thinking about when he crosses the boarder about how boarder patrol might get him and the royal police would stop him. He also says he thought he might have lost it like gone off the psychic edge. He says that he thinks Elroy knows about everything but he just wont say anything about it. The man is to polite he says. Then one night when he had to pay off his rent they were talking about rates. Elroy said 50 a night and 4 nights thats 200. and he said no how about 40 and Elroy agreed. So he made him pay 160 plus 100 for the food which was 260 which was fair. Then Elroy started to talk aobut jobs with him and he told him about his old job as a butcher and Elroy was saying no wonder you smelled so bad and like pork chops. Then he asked him about his pay and he said his pay was horrible. Elroy made a proposal since he worked so hard at the cabin he payed him for all his hours. He worked 25 hours and 15 an hour which was 375 bucks Elroy said. So he subtracted that from the 260 and he still owed him 115 dollars. Elroy left the money on the table but he didn't take it. Then the next morning when he woke up he saw the money on the floor in an envelope which said EMERGENCY FUNDS. He then knew that Elroy knew.

the things they carried-7

in this part of the book i read from pages 47 to 50. In this part of the book he talks about where he was driving to get away and get out of being drafted.  He said near dusk he passed through Bemidji and then turned northeast to international falls. He had spent the night in his car behind a closed down gas station half a mile away from the border. In the morning after he gassed up he headed straight west along the rainy river which would separate Minnesota from Canada. He says in the book that separates one life from another. On his way he stopped at an old fishing resort called the Tip Top. He met a man there named Elroy Berdahl. When he got there tourist season was over so it was just them to. He stayed there for 6 days and he spent all his time with Elroy and they ate their meals together talked and everything. They would talk alot like be friends and all until he left. That is what thee few pages are about

the things they carried-6

In this part of the book I read from page 37 to 47. In this part of the book he talks about after he got out of college and he was drafted into the war in the summer of  1968. He talked about he how thought so hard about his draft card and he could burn it and just go to Canada which was only a boat ride away. He always talks about how before he went into Vietnam everything is his life was closing up onto him like he was being squeezed in. He was so sad that he was going to fight a war that he was totally against and didnt want to have anything to do with. He had a sick feeling in his stomach and nervous mad and upset he was all together. So thats what he talks about in this part.

the thing they carried 5

in this part of the book i read from page 32 to 37. One thing is this part of the book is when he talks about how he was bcak in vietnam and what they used to do. His friends Norman Bowker and Henry Dobbins would play checkers every night. It was like a ritual for them he said. He talked about the good things with checkers qabout how u know where you stand no tunnels, or mountains, or jungles or any of that. He also talks about the things that they would talk about in Vietnam. For example his friend Norman Bowker talks about how he wish his father would write him a letter talking about how he wouldn't care if he didnt caome home with any medals or anything like that. He talked about the average age in their platoon to which was nineteen or twenty. They told eachother stories while in Vietnam to keep peace with eachother and keep everything alright. This is what this part of the book is about.

the things they carried-4

in this part of the the book now that im reading in from page 24-32. in the first few pages to about page 26 jimmy cross talks about how he hates Martha but he loves he and he tries to forget about her. Then he says how he was going to get up the rest of his men and do their march all throughout the day though it might be harder that day because it was raining hard and it also made all the things they carried alot of heavier then usually.  On page 27 i read the four page chapter called Love. In this chapeter Jimmy cross goes to an old friends home from the war and discuss about what happened and the drank cofee and smoked cigarettes the whole day. When they would talk about things that troubled them they would be silent for a long time and they change the cofee to gin. Jimmy cross's friend also asked him about Martha and what ever happened. He had said after the war they ran into eachother in 1979 at a college reunion and he spent the whole day with her about 8 or 9 hours. He told her a few times he loved her but she was just say nothing back. He said that she had told him that day she finished nursing school and she had been to different countries helping out people. He said that there was a banquet and a dance that day and they did those things together. Also after he told her he loved her she would stay silent and look at her watch and say it was getting late. So then he walked her back to her dormitory and dropped her off. He said so badly he wish he could have brang her back to his room and spend time with her but he couldnt. Then after he told the story Cross's friend told him to write a book or story about what happened and as he got into his car Cross's friend said to him make sure you make me out to be handsome and great and the best platoon leader ever!

the things they carried-3

In this part of the book he talks more about Martha and his love for her but now he hates her because he loves her but he doesnt think she loves him back. He took all of the letters from her that he got and he burned them. it is a love hate type of thing because he wants to be with her so bad but he cant because hes in the war he wants to hate her but he cant because he knows he truly love hers with all his heart.

the things they carried-2

 In this part of the book which is from page 12 to 20 it takes more about the men and the things that they do, carry, and so on. Like it says that lieutenant Jimmy Cross carry's his lucky pebble that he got from Martha which is the woman that he loves so much. Dave Jensen carried a rabbits foot. Norman Bowker carried a thumb that he had obtained from his friend Mitchell Sanders. It was cut off a VC corpse from a boy about fifteen or sixteen.   They had found him at the bottom of an irrigation ditch burned. When one of the men died and lieutenant Cross felt that it was his fault when Ted Lavender died because he wasn't paying attention and he was blanked out thinking about Martha.

The things they carried

 This book is about a Vietnam veteran who writes stories about him and his friend and about what happened when he was in the war and all that was going on. im on page 12 right now and so far mostly what ive found out is his friends names, the supplies that they carried and the girl Martha who he is in love with so much. In the story so far he talks about how he always forgets about the war and thinks about her and he blanks out and dazes sometimes in the middle of things. Like for example in one part of the story so far he went into a tunnel to look for his friend lee strunk but when he goes into the tunnel he blanks out and thinks about walking on the jersey shore with Martha. Also he always talks about his friend Ted Lavender who had got shot earlier. He talks about how he was a bigger man than everyone and he carried a bigger gun which was the m60 instead of the standard issue m16. He carried extra ammunition, extra food, and 6 to 7 ounces of dope. When he was shot right in the head all of the men put him in his poncho and they sat there by his side waiting for the chopper to come pick him up while smoking his dope. The man that went into the tunnel that was Lee Strunk made it out alive of the tunnel and all of the men laughed. One of them said "Right out of the grave fuckin' zombie". So far this is how far i got and this is what the story is about