Essay on My Lai Massacre

In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support

Society is based upon those who lead and those who follow. Typically people will go as far as harming innocent people in order to please authority. Events such as mass genocides and massacres, happen due to people’s strong willingness follow authority they will perpetrate these horrendous acts. From the outside perspective, it seems as though these events should be obviously avoidable. However, it is difficult to imagine being in the position of either going against personal morals or following authority. Milgram decided to test the theory of how far a person will go to satisfy authority. Although society is skeptical to accept the validity of Milgram’s results, the event that occurred in My Lai proves his results.

The members of the armed forces are well know, and well respected for their discipline. Part of that discipline comes from the ability to follow the orders of your subordinates, even if they don’t feel like it or don’t agree with them. How disciplined can a soldier be if they don’t follow orders. The soldier in question can’t be very disciplined if they fail to follow instructions right? It goes against everything a soldier stands for. This makes them a danger to their team members, especially in a time of war. I do not think

“If the tiger ever stands still, the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death.” This quote by Ho Chi Minh emphasises his belief that Guerrilla tactics would be what would result in a win for the Vietcong. The Vietcong made use of tunnels, known as the Cu Chi Tunnels , which was a network of underground tunnels that the Vietcong resided in, and used to store supplies and care for the sick and injured. The use of underground hiding places meant that the US was unaware of the Vietcong’s whereabouts from ground level, allowed them to be

the head by an ARVN regular from point-blank range in the streets of Saigon. (6) The

On March 16, 1968, nearly 500 people were killed in the village of My Lai. In one of the most horrific events that happened to civilians in the war, a company of American soldiers killed innocent Vietnamese people, and many young women and women were raped before their deaths. Even though it only it only took place on one single day, it will forever be remembered as one of the most horrific events in the Vietnam War. On March 16, 1968, Charlie Company,11th Brigade, were alerted that the village of My Lai had been taken over by Viet Cong troops.

For example when a soldier is told to build a stage or a wall and it requires planning and they are told by their leaders to do it a certain way it should be done the way they were told no matter if it’s the hardest way. A soldier who doesn’t follow the orders they were given is the only one to blame for not doing his job as a soldier properly and not living to the army vaults because every one of the soldiers knows that your should never disobey an order.

On the evening of the 13th, enemy flares began to light up around the perimeter, signaling to the advancing troops where they were to attack the line. At 2207, mortars and small arms began to fall on the French and 1st Battalion sectors accompanied by the sounds of the Chinese horns and whistles. The mines and artillery temporarily halted the Chinese advance, which resumed by 0100. Meanwhile, on the east side, in 3rd Battalions sector, artillery fire from hill 397 and machine gun fire from the railroad tunnel to their front was bombarding Easy Company's area. A bazooka eventually knocked out the machine gun and the commander, Captain Sawyer, ordered to detonate the fougasse containers upon seeing another Chinese unit advancing from

Nevertheless, over the next 3 hours they killed as many as 504 Vietnamese civilians” (Digital

Starting at 3:00 A.M. on the 31st of January, the North Vietnamese regulars and Vietcong (North Vietnamese sympathizers and guerillas in South Vietnam) performed attacks on many provincial capitals and major cities, also attacking U.S. bases. This force of over 80,000 men contributed to the largest offensive action the Americans had seen since the start of the war.

The loss of life from the 1989 Tiananmen Square, China slaughter appears to have been closer to 10,000 deaths, thousands more than what was known at the time, a declassified secret British document has revealed.

If the order isn’t lawful or is illegal you have the right to disobey the order, without fear of punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). If you happened to follow the illegal order given to you by a superior and you were caught, the excuse “I was only following orders”, as you will find is a very doomed position to have in our courts.

In their own thoughts of glory when they succeeded and told everyone 23 men had already died. Because the group was only an assault group, they only had grenades and standard issue machine guns and rifles that weren’t that useful in the given situation. Some men

In 1946 the Nuremberg tribunal described one country initiating a war of aggression against another country as,“not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole" (The economist). (1)The Bush administration committed this supreme crime on March 19th, 2003, when the US led an international coalition and invaded sovereign country of Iraq. An invasion based on questionable intelligence and sold to the public as a national security issue. The financial cost to the US population has been enormous,“The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans,” (Reuters).(2)

     Picture this, you, in a 3rd world country, no friends no family for thousands of miles, hungry, not feeling so well, tired, exhausted and being forced to fight thousands of people who want you out of there country? Fun? I wouldn’t think so… This is a reality for thousands of American Soldiers stationed in Iraq and maybe your reality if the draft is reinstated. Now, picture this. You’re watching the news, they are calling out birthdays, oh they choose yours, but uh oh this is for a draft. You are now being shipped over to Iraq to fight with out choice. Easy as that. But what are you fighting for? Freedom, safety, your country? Maybe… But the war is costing your home country 140 billion dollars so