Many topics from "The Things They Carried" are still relevant today, the constant theme is the horrors of war, and how they affect ill-prepared men, both physically and mentally. Many of the items they carry are symbolic as well as practical, used as a reflection of their own battles, and serve as a bridge between their fantasy world and reality.
Ultimately, their psychological baggage becomes the hindrance that leads them to their death.
The dramatic irony lies in the way that we know just as macbeth's himself knows
