Nicely stated, my pro-communist friend. We never burned their crops: the VC came at night and took them. The VC also took their military-aged sons and murdered anybody they thought opposed them.
Generally, when we approached a village that hadn't seen Americans before, everybody hid. Then the kids would come out of hiding and we'd give them the tropical chocolate from our C-Rations ("shit discs") and cigarettes - the kids all smoked - and then once the villagers saw that we weren't hurting anyone, they'd bit by bit came out of hiding. After that, every time we went through those same villages, they didn't hide from us and some - at great risk - would point out the mined trails to us.
We Marines knew that the villagers were the center of gravity of the whole war and they were the people we were there to protect. We Marines even had squads living in the villages (CAP Units)- at great risk - to protect the hamlets and to train them how to protect themselves.
I went back to some of those villages in 2000 and some of them still remembered me and were happy to see us back.
Other than reading the enemy's propaganda and believing it, you still haven't answered my question: when were you there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IUvzkNdc8
1ST CAVALRY DIVISION OF US ARMY BURNS DOWN VILLAGE IN BINH DINH PROVINCE
Or the 60’s had better special effects than we thought...