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One of the passage from "The Things They Carried" that I found interesting is on page 35. "A guy goes AWOL. Shacks up in Danang with a Red Cross nurse. It's a great time--the nurse loves him to death--the guys gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. The war's over, he thinks. Just nookie and new angles. But then one day he rejoins his unit in the bush. Can't wait to get back into action. Finally one of his buddies asks what happened with the nurse, why so hot for combat, and the guys says, "All that peace, man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back." It seems as though he rejoined his unit and left behind the nurse was because he got bored. Bored of doing the same things over everyday and not experiencing new things. I can connect with this quote because at times when I get bored, I would like to go back to my past experiences.

Dear Brother:

This war has been hard for me but I'm adjusting to the environment. It has been stressful fighting a war in an unknown territory. But being here is not so bad, i was able to make some new friends to ease stress. All I'm hoping for is for this war to end soon and come home to my family and friends. So don't lose hope and continue to pray for our safe return home. Also pray that our president will start to see how this war has affected the country and start sending us home.

That is enough about the war. I would like to know how you are doing so far and also how dad and mom are doing? Hopefully me going to war hasnt been putting stress on the family. Tell mom and dad that they dont have to worry about me and keep going on with their life before I was sent to war. Well, this is all the time I have to write back to you guys. Take care of yourself and the family for me.

Sincerely,

Tan