Tim's Nostalgia

In the story "The Ghost Soldiers" from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, Tim experiences a drastic change in setting after he is shot twice when he is transferred to the battalion supply section. Throughout a majority of the stories in the book up to this point, O'Brien has mostly focused on both the physical and mental hardships that have manifested in the members of his platoon as a result of the war by recounting various aspects of the war itself. In "The Ghost Soldiers," however, O'Brien places his own character, Tim, in a post-waresque environment, where fighting is minimal and daily life is generally more hospitable. While at first, Tim appreciates his relieve from active duty and the new found comfort that is associated with it, he quickly begins to feel nostalgia when the other members of Alpha Company stay there for a stand-down. Tim's nostalgia stems from his feeling of a loss of camaraderie with his former platoon-mates, and is what causes him to initially want to exact revenge on Bobby Jorgenson.

At first glance, Tim appears pleased and almost relieved with his new assignment to the supply section. Tim narrates to us: "Compared with the boonies it was cushy duty. We had regular hours. There was an EM club with beer and movies, sometimes even live floor shows, the whole blurry slow motion of the rear (191)." Already we can observe the stark contrast between the dynamics during the war and the dynamic of the battalion supply section. The environment of the supply section is a lot calmer and more alleviating than what we sense the war was like from other stories. The presence of the EM club and things like "beer and movies" speak to this point. Rather than a strict regiment of work shifts and duties, the soldiers there are essentially free to enjoy their lives through these things like the club and regular hours, as they aren't really under any stress and are never really tested at the supply station. It is because of the easy lifestyle that Tim states to us that "for the first time in months [he] felt reasonably safe" (191).

While Tim does enjoy this feeling of safety that has escaped him for so long, he is quick in his nostalgia for the thick of the war as well. Tim expresses in response to the improved living conditions of his new location: "I didn't complain. In an odd way, though, there were times when I missed the adventure, even the danger, of the real war out in the boonies (192). We would expect a feeling of elation from any soldier in Tim's position, as he was assigned to an easygoing supply section with a non-life threatening injury. However, Tim's response to all of this is simply that he "didn't complain." The fact that his response to such a situation is so stoic shows that while he does appreciate it, he doesn't fully enjoy or particularly want to be in the supply section with his injury. Tim goes on to explain that sometimes he actually misses his time in the "real war" with the other platoon members. He had developed such camaraderies with his platoon-mates, saying that in war "you make close friends. You become part of a tribe and you share the same blood" (192). This exhibits this feeling of nostalgia that is present in Tim. These bonds and notions of camaraderie only come as a result of fighting alongside one another in the war. At the supply section, Tim loses all of this when he is separated, and feels nostalgic towards what he had in the "real war." Part of him wants to go back to Alpha Company and experience the war with his comrades again.

This notion of nostalgia that Tim carries only worsens when the members of Alpha Company actually arrive at the battalion supply section that Tim is stationed at. Tim states: "I envied him- all of them [...] I felt close to them, yes, but I also felt a new sense of separation" (194). Here we get the sense that Tim actually feels like there is a new barrier present between him and his old platoon-mates. Despite having worked with them so closely during such stressful times though the war, now that he is no longer with them, Tim feels out of place. The nostalgia overcomes Tim, and he says that the separation he felt from his former comrades "made him feel sad" (194). This sadness gets worse when Tim asks Mitchell Sanders if he is still "with" Alpha Company or not, and Sanders replies: "No [...] I guess your not" (198). Sanders essentially says to Tim that they are no longer one and the same, and tells him that he is not part of their group anymore. Tim reacts poorly to this, stating that he "felt betrayed," and "for a long while I just stared at Mitchell Sanders" (198). This realization of the supposed betrayal of his former comrades in Alpha Company eventuate in Tim's initial insistence on his revenge for Bobby Jorgenson. Sanders states that Jorgenson, unlike Tim, has now become one of them. He narrates that Jorgenson "seemed to fit in very nicely, all smiles and group rapport" (203). Tim simply can't handle the fact that the memory of him in Alpha Company is being ignored, and feels threatened by the ease with which Jorgenson is assimilating into his old platoon here. After all, Jorgenson did screw over Tim and indirectly remove him from his position in Alpha Company, so the fact that Jorgenson is now getting along so well exacerbates Tim's feeling of nostalgia and need to take action. Thus, when Tim states that "That's probably what cinched it" (203), he means that this event of him observing Jorgenson interact so well with the platoon members hurt him, since he was so nostalgic about it in the first place, and is the catalyst that caused the creation of his plan to scare Jorgenson as a petty form of revenge for integrating so well into the platoon.