SOURCE: Campbell, Christopher D. “Conversation across a Century: The War Stories of Ambrose Bierce and Tim O'Brien.” WLA: War, Literature & the Arts 10, no. 2 (fall-winter 1998): 267-88.

In the following essay, Campbell finds similarities between the The Things They Carried and the war stories of Ambrose Bierce.

There is a certain brotherhood of warriors, a commonality of experience, that transcends time and the differences between individual wars. The decision of whether to go to war or to avoid it, the task of conducting oneself appropriately in situations that have no parallels in peace, the frustrations that result from beholding waste and stupidity and death at close range, and the difficult transition to civilian life (provided one survives) are some of the principal elements that distinguish this fraternity.¹ Frequently, members of this brotherhood will recount their experiences in memoirs or histories, but these accounts tend to be specific, personal, and dated...