Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried has lead humanities students to write letters to overseas soldiers. Students are currently writing the letters and they will be sent out in the following weeks.

“We have been studying war and its effects on humanity for four weeks now,” Steve Hettleman said, “But instead of writing an analysis of the book or a persuasive essay about war, I thought it would be interesting to follow up on Jeff Ryan’s assignment. Allow the students to be human with another human. Have them share what they’re thinking about the war and their reactions to reading the book, and ask the soldiers questions that may not have been answered in class.”

The students chose their correspondents to write to through Anysoldier.com, a website that allows people from all over the world to send care packages and letters to any soldier in any war. A soldier’s profile on the website contains a short biography.

Junior Kenneth Berreman read up on his soldier and learned that his unit’s food tent had been blown up and that food was scarce, as a result.

“I was originally just going to send a letter, but seeing that note when I was assigned his address made me want to do more, like send him a box of Clif Bars in addition to the letter,” Kenneth said.

Another student, Corey Dunne, said he thought that when soldiers are away from home, not all of them are getting letters. “They may not have enough contact with home so when they do get a letter they get excited just to hear from someone.”

Mr. Ryan, a former Humanities teacher, came up with the idea to have his students write letters to soldiers a few years ago. That idea caught on, and now Hettleman’s students are writing the letters.

To ensure that it is a positive experience for both the student and the soldier, Hettleman said that he insists on a careful editing process before the letters are sent.

“We have to make sure our tone is right and our thinking is clear,” Hettleman said. “We need to make sure we are being respectful and that we are paying attention to detail. Whatever our feelings about war, we need to be respectful to the people that are defending our country. Whether we agree with the war or not, we need to keep that separate from the letter.”