thanks Jim, I really like the opening narrative and the title, "the things we carried".  Frenchie had a similar thread that was very informative.  I think one of the posters to this film clip said it all.......

"Every soldier's experience was colored by their background and how they related to their fellow grunts. The same experience at the same time and place by thirty men, produces thirty different perceptions. As John Steinbeck said, "The story of Vietnam will be written by every soldier who takes up the pen, and write about what he saw and experienced. If you were there, WRITE, and keep on writing." J.Wainscoat