Personal Opinion Essay: The Vietnam War

They trudged through many battles,
Eating M&Ms and chewing fear,
Just some boys in big army boots
Fixing the leaders’ problems.

5. They reminisce about lost loved ones
Regaling while they shot the “enemy”
They blocked it out the best they could
but the things they carried never faded.

9. Carrying panties,
pictures, or anything,
To give the soldiers good luck.
Reading the cards from their love ones
Waiting for the day they could be reunited.

14. Fighting and fighting like theres no tomorrow.
Carrying their lucky charms
And loose thoughts about the pass
Losing their minds in the battle field.
18. But carrying their promises all the way.

Explanation
This poem was made from different poems dedicated to the book, but there are also some parts

that I felt like that had to be added. This poem explain the first chapter “The Things They Carried”. Through these chapter the author explains the things that some specific soldiers would carry, some would carry physical things and other would carry emotional or even thoughts. The first stanza talks about how the soldiers weren’t grown man or simply were still some boys that had nothing to do with the war but they were still had to go and fight, also how the soldiers seem to not be afraid by “eating M&Ms” but they are scared because they are “Chewing fear”.
The second stanza talks more about how some of the soldiers feel entering the war and fighting in the line. The couplet line five and six says how the soldiers think of their loved ones that are not longer with them, knowing is just them and the adversary and they know that is either shoot or get shot. The next couplet lines, seven and eight, talks about how the soldiers try to forget about their love ones but their memories never seems to go away.
Third stanza focus more on a specific person since not every soldier carries their girls panties or letters from a girl. The panties are from a guy name Henry Dobbins, “Henry Dobbins carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his neck as a comforter” (9). And the letters were from Jimmy Cross according to the book, “...Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl name Martha,” (1). And says how the things they carried gave them good luck, and the last couplet from that stanza talks of how the soldiers are just waiting to go back and see their family again. Every soldier carried a different thing put based on the book those two soldiers carried the things that said in the poem.
In the next stanza explains how the soldiers were protecting the land but they also wanted wanted to war to end. The soldiers still had faith in the lucky charms and would use them everywhere they would go. But the last couplet said something powerful, “Losing their minds in the battlefield.” and the whole meaning to it is that even though the soldiers survive the battles scars are being left in their minds, that could be relatable to now days were a soldier will have a great chance to have PTSD. The last line is probably the best way to end the poem because it not only says how the soldiers are carrying the promises they make before leaving their town but it also says how the soldiers are trying to survive and finish the war but not everyone does it or not everyone comes out of the war complete. This poem is mainly by me (Antonio Viorato) but two poems were use, one of them is called “The Things They Carried” and the second poem is named the same but they both are completely different but mean and explain the main topic.