The Things They Carried

 Tim O'Brien is the author of The Things They Carried. This book is a collection of short stories about a platoon of soldiers in the Vietnam war. The author was a soldier in the 23rd Infantry. I knew he had to be a soldier. His writing makes it obvious that he was in Vietnam. Just his descriptions of the smells were enough to convince me this was based on reality. The author was born in 1946 in Austin, Minnesota. One of his main characters gets drafted the same month as he graduated from college. One day in September while working at an outdoor job he walks off the job and drives to the border between Minnesota and Canada. He is considering dodging the draft. He ends up at a resort on the border. An elderly man owns the resort. He sees the young man and offers him a cabin, some food, and the opportunity to do some chores. The young man ends up staying ten days at the resort splitting wood, painting cabins, refinishing boats and talking with the old man. On the tenth day the old man takes him fishing. As the boat goes deep into Canadian territory, the potential draft dodger thinks about swimming to the Canadian shore. He ends up driving back home and joining the Army. I enjoyed the story. I now realize that the older I get the more I realize how big a role the country of Vietnam shaped my upbringing.