My Lai Massacre and the Breakdown of Military Discipline
On March 16, 1968 Soldiers from C Company 1st Battalion, of the 23rd Infantry Division were involved in what would become one of the largest killings of civilians in military history. Second Lieutenant William Calley and Captain Ernest Medina led the Soldiers during the onslaught of innocent men, women, and children. Helicopter Pilot Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson along with his flight crew are credited with halting the massacre and saving numerous lives. What followed were denials and accusations during the investigations, with one man held accountable for the actions of many during the day in March 1968. Therefore, the lack of leadership and discipline led to the actions committed
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The need for the calling up the reserve forces and 1968 being the deadliest year of the war so far brought on doubts and concerns of the winnability of the war. The American public and support for the uniformed service members was at an all-time low, with many demonstrations against the war held on college campuses and cities across the United States protesting the war and the draft. Soldiers serving in Vietnam were fighting an enemy that did not wear a uniform and fought with insurgent tactics with booby traps and mines. The military at that time could not keep pace with its leadership needs and failed to keep its core leadership in the noncommissioned officer ranks. The loss of the pivotal leadership billets and mentoring of the junior Soldiers allowed for the breakdown and enforcement of military …show more content…
Acquitted for their actions at My Lai all Soldiers except Lieutenant Calley escapes prosecution and punishment. We as senior leaders and professionals must take a step back and look at the behavior of the leadership throughout Charlie Company. The core leadership of platoon leaders, noncommissioned officers, and company commander either allowed, participated, or precipitated mass murder, rape, and breakdown of moral values. Our core values and principles as leaders guide us to be discipline, be humane, and of good moral character and help us instill these values and discipline in our
..., the draft ended and the U.S. converted to an All-Volunteer military. Many people were not in high spirits about the Vietnam War, and thought we should not be involved in it. Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, laments “[w]e are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves” (Vietnam-Facts.info). There is a popular picture of a draft protests sign displaying the words “hell no, we won’t go.” I do believe Americans should have a right to choose to go to war or not. Many young men lost their life fighting a battle they didn’t even have faith in. Many soldiers endured personal hardships, loss of income, and leaving family behind. Most of drafted soldiers complied with the draft and served; however, many middle to high-class young men found ways to avoid combat.
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
On August 7th 1964 the United States Congress passed into law the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which, for all intents and purposes, officially brought the United States into the Vietnam War. Following this resolution, a draft was instated to increase the number of men that could be sent to war. Shortly after men started to be signed into conscription for the United States Military, a public outcry started over the use of a draft to increase military size. The draft was found to be unfair to American Citizens because certain groups of men were severely disadvantaged, the draft was illegal in many ways, and veteran’s future lives were harmed, among other reasons.
Due to the volatile conditions of the Vietnam War, the protestors believed that they should not be involved in a war that they cared so little about. Public opinion heavily swayed during the war as only one senator dissented from the overwhelming opinion to fight the war (Amter 45). However, as President Johnson escalated the war and the Draft increased by 25% in 1968, those youths being conscripted were infuriated (Dougan 118). Not only this, the North Vietnamese began a ruthless offensive on American soldiers by merciless attacking our bases. This resulted in US victories, but also US casualties (Dougan 116). Also, the marines stationed at the bases began to use offensive attacks to deter Viet Cong assault against the wishes of General Taylor (Karnov 443). With these new less defensive strategy, Nixon announced plans to start operations in Cambodia, and to increase the bombings overall in Southeast Asia (Dougan 180). Some missions even began t...
If people do not believe in what they are fighting for and are drafted into a war they do not want to fight, people will not fight with honor for their country. Being drafted into a war someone does not want to fight causes him or her to fight that war to escape with their life, not to earn a victory for their country. The United States intervened into Vietnam to try and stop the spread of communism into South Vietnam (HISTORY.com,. "Vietnam War History). They declared we needed a draft to help supply troops to fuel the war against communism, but in the end the result was the same. The Draft was an unneeded part of the Vietnam War. If the draft would have never been introduced less protestors to the war would have risen and more volunteers would have came forward and sent to Vietnam. When American troops were beginning to be withdrawn from Vietnam, it was not because of a lack of troops, but from a lack of support (Walpole, Andy.). The lack of support and the idea of and unwinnable war was the cause of a slow end to the terrible war efforts. The American ideals changed from the start to the finish of the war, hating the soldiers when they came back. The last troops did not return home from Vietnam until 1973(Walpole, Andy.). This vast difference in time between the first troops to leave and the last troops to leave was the cause of much resentment among the
On March 16, 1968, in the Quang Ngai region of Vietnam, specifically My Lai, the United States military was involved in an appalling slaughter of approximately 500 Vietnamese civilians. There are numerous arguments as to why this incident even had the capacity to occur. Although some of the arguments seem valid, can one really make excuses for the slaughter of innocent people? The company that was responsible for the My Lai incident was the Charlie Company and throughout the company there were many different accounts of what happened that reprehensible day. Therefore there are a few contradictions about what had occurred, such as what the commanding officers exact instructions for the soldiers were. Even with these contradictions the results are obvious. The question that must be posed is whether these results make the American soldiers involved that day “guilty”. There is the fact that the environment of the Vietnam War made it very confusing to the soldiers exactly who the enemy was, as well as providing a pent up frustration due to the inability to even engage in real combat with the enemy. If this is the case though, why did some soldiers with the same frustrations refuse the orders and sit out on the action, why did some cry while firing, and why then did one man go so far as to place himself between the Vietnamese and the firing soldiers? If these men who did not see the sense in killing innocents were right with their actions, then how come the ones who did partake were all found not guilty in court? The questions can keep going back and forth on this issue, but first what happened that day must be examined.
Many people in the 1960s and early 1970s did not understand why the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. Therefore, they had no desire to be a part of it. The Selective Service System, which was used to conduct the draft, had aspirations of directing people into areas where they were most needed during wartime. However, people took advantage of the draft system’s deferment policies to avoid going to war. Others refused induction or simply did not register. There were also people who left the country to escape the draft. The Vietnam War proved to be an event that many Americans did not agree with, and as a result, citizens took action to elude the draft entirely or to beat the draft system.
In 1968, the United States of America was participating in a violent war that some of the general public greatly disapproved of. Tension between political parties was rising and this did not help efforts with the war. Anti-war sentiment was growing in popularity amongst the younger generation; they wanted to get their voices heard. Protests and riots were occurring more frequently and growing larger in size all throughout the United States. This was the case for eight Chicago men who protested peacefully.
Not only from not knowing who the enemy was, tension also grew in the soldiers because of their loneliness and lack of understanding for why they were in Vietnam. Most of the time, soldiers humped around the lonely land of Vietnam with the same guys for months except for the occasional supply chopper that came in or the brief radio contacts with headquarters in order to receive backup and orders. Soldiers had very little contact with others, and this isolation would drive any man crazy. In order to get by, the soldiers had to rely on each other. If they could not trust each other with their lives, none of them would ever make it back to the States to enjoy the aspects of life away form war.
Tragic events occur not only in the United States, but also all over the world. From these tragic events communities, families, and the government decide to place memorials for people that were lost and as a thank you for people protecting the citizens of the country. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C. is one of these cases. However, what exactly was the purpose of this memorial? The purpose of putting up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was not only to thank the veterans for their bravery, but to remind future generations about happened during the Vietnam War. Also, the memorial is important to help people and the veterans to accept the fact that the war actually
...nd innocent villagers of My Lai, it was a time when American’s questioned their own as being “bad guys” or “good guys”. Were America’s tortuous and cruel acts to be considered patriotic or dishonorable? Some Americans, with bitter feelings for all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War, gave credit to Lieutenant Calley for leading troops in participating in such an atrocious event. History shows that there is still much debate on some facts of the massacre and many stories and opinions, although we will never know the facts exactly, what we do know is that America will never forget this tragic event, it will be talked about in American History for many years to come, and the Vietminh hearts will always fill with sadness when they think of the many lives that were lost on that tragic day in history, their minds will always have unspeakable memories of that day.
James A. Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose” (BrainyQuote.com). In the 1960s, “the man” was youth across the country. The Vietnam war was in full force, and students across the country were in an outrage. Society needed an excuse to rebel against the boring and safe way of life they were used to; Vietnam gave them the excuse they needed. Teenagers from different universities came together and formed various organizations that protested the Vietnam war for many reasons. These reasons included protesting weapons and different tactics used in the war, and the reason the U.S. entered the war in the first place. These get-togethers had such a monumental impact on their way of life that it was famously named the Anti-War Movement. When the Vietnam War ended, The United States did not have a real concrete reason why; there were a bunch of theories about why the war ended. Through negative media attention and rebellious youth culture, the Anti-War Movement made a monumental impact in the ending of the Vietnam War.
The political and societal ramifications of Vietnam's Tet Offensive indubitably illustrate the historical oddity of 1968. 1967 had not been a bad year for most Americans. Four years after the profound panic evoked by the assassination of John Kennedy, the general public seemed to be gaining a restored optimism, and even the regularly protested Vietnam War still possessed the semblance of success (Farber and Bailey 34-54). However, three short weeks following the eve of 68, Americans abruptly obtained a radically different outlook. The Tet Offensive, beginning on January 30, 1968, consisted of a series of military incursions during the Vietnam War, coordinated between the National Liberation Front's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), or "Viet Cong," and the ...
The paranoia and fear of death never left them. The My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968, when the village of My Lai was completely destroyed, although it did not contain a single enemy troop. Over a hundred villagers were slaughtered. It became clearer to Americans how soldiers were losing control, and how there was no easy way to win this war.
A war crime is an unjust act of violence in which a military personnel violates the laws and acceptable behaviors of a war. Despite all the violence in a war, a soldier shooting another is not considered a war crime because it is not a violation to the laws and practices of a war, and it is considered just. A war crime is defined as a “violations [violation] of the laws and customs of war” (“War Crimes”), and are attacks “against civilian populations, prisoners of war, or in some cases enemy soldiers in the field” (Friedman). War crimes are typically committed with weapons or by uncommon, cruel, devastating military methods and are “…Committed primarily by military personnel” (Friedman). There are many different types of war crimes one can commit, including “murder, ill treatment…murder or ill treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages or devastation not justified by military necessity” (Friedman). Originally constructed as international law by the London Charter on August 8th, 1945 and further developed by the Hague Conventions of 1899, 1907 and the Nuremberg trials, war crimes are aggressive, unacceptable and unjust actions performed by military workforce that occur during a war.