Tim O'Brien is a very gifted author, but he is also a veteran of the Vietnam War and fought alongside the United States in that controversial war. Tim O'Brien was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1968. He served as an infantryman, rose to the rank of sergeant, and earned a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel. He was discharged from the Vietnam War in 1970. I believe O'Brien's own images and past experiences he had during the Vietnam War inspired him to write the story "The Things That 'they carried'. O'Brien tells the third-person story of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon of young Americans during the Vietnam War. In “The Things They Carried,” we can see differences and similarities between the characters through the things they hold close to them. In this critical review, I would like to criticize the characterization of Tim O'Brien. O'Brien's expression towards each character is very unique because no two of them are exactly the same. They all differ in age and ethnicity and have different views on the Vietnam War. They carry the weight of their country on their backs, but they also have different emotions weighing on their hearts. “The Things We Carried” takes us to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his platoon are on the battlefields of Vietnam. His platoon includes: Mitchell Sanders (radio operator), Rat Kiley (medic), Henry Dobbins (machine gunner), Kiowa, Norman Bowker, Ted Lavender, Dave Jensen, Lee Strunk and a few other soldiers that O'Brien does not know. I have no name in history.