Posted on 03/16/2017 4:39:39 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
Troops of Co C, 1st Bat. 20th Inf. Reg. 11 Brig. 23rd ID attacked the Vietnamese village of My-Lai. By the end of the day the village and its population were largely destroyed.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and bad orders.
It takes a village to be saved.
General “Jumping” Jack Singlaub had an interesting take on this in his book “Hazardous Duty.” As I recall from reading it some time ago Singlaub was briefly in the Pentagon and working on personnel issues. He said their way of reducing officers was taking out all the good ones which would later force them to promote unfit officers. He used Lieutenant Calley as an example.
You can't tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor!
Like many others, I served after Calley’s trial, and was briefed on my obligation not to follow illegal orders.
Of course, we were not told how to determine a legal from an illegal order, or what the mechanism was for the proper way to refuse an illegal order. Essentially all this did was to further stir up the muddy water.
Go back and read about public sentiment at the time this was unfolding.
A very good book on the officer corps in Vietnam
written in 1978 by 2 Army Majors. I believe nearly all of their reccomendations were eventually implemented. Hard Hitting and Powerful, still have my original copy. ( and ain’t ever selling it )
Amazingly available on Amazon for $16 which suggests the military leaders still use it for guidence. Link to Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Command-Mismanagement-Richard-Gabriel/dp/0809001403
That single atrocity gave the enemy the gift that they were looking for to smear all of the hard work and combat all the rest of us had to struggle to do the right way.
Hope they fry in Hell.
Read the reviews, that’s exactly what Singlaub was talking about! I’ll have to read that book.
Missed you, sort of, by two years. My Dad joined the Navy for similar reasons, and ended up Riverine, though on an LST on a big river. After his stint in Nam he was posted to Treasure Island in early ‘70. I was born very soon thereafter in Oak Knoll Naval Hospital—just missed being born in Japan.
When I was in Navy OCS the question of illegal orders came up. The JAG instructor said that the determination if an order was legal or illegal would be made at your General Court Martial.
My understanding, as well.
One lasting effect of this is all civilian deaths in a war zone are now viewed in this light by the media.
Thank you for suggesting the book. I was in college in 1968 and understand the context. I also experienced the emotions of on one hand supporting freedom lovers and the clear mess we were doing of executing the war. Out of all of that, I did learn that we just think we plan our lives and careers, that is in another’s hands.
On the opposite side of the coin is one of the best books on business management (not military but some things are the same) and personal life. In 1988, I was leaving a company for which I had worked for 14 years. It had sold 2 years prior. One of my friends in that company who knew I was leaving wanted me to read this book before I left. I did and returned the book and left the company. (I had VP title at the time) He remained and became the chief operations officer of the company. I worked for him again for 5 year, many years later. (We’ve been friends since 1972)
The Book:
The Power of Ethical Management (ISBN 10: 0688070620)
by Norman V. Peale, Ken Blanchard
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Ethical-Management-Norman-Peale/dp/0688070620
February 11, 1988
Money line: “The numbers can all be right and the decision still be wrong”
It’s a very short book. New hard copies on amazon sell for about the same price as the one you mentioned. I’ve had my copy a long time.
LOL
The Communists pointed to the destruction of a village to show the brutality of the Americans.
Then proceeded to destroy countless villages themselves.
The Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley--C Company (1971)
That is a very good line summarizing what can be a very big problem in many institutions. On the other hand, casual questioning of orders can quickly bring an institution to a standstill.
The Japanese have a proverb which captures the flip side of “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”: The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.
On this day in 1968, Oklahoma and Arkansas were locked in with 14 inches of “only a dry front” blowing snow. The area was shut down for a week or two as many people were without power, and no one had a 4-WD except the local banker.
I was privy to several ‘retribution’ attacks on folks in RVN. It would serve us well to read up on what happened prior to, during, and after the My Lai event. I would not be so quick to judge. RVN 1969-70.
Of course they did; that's why we were there in the first place. Murder and intimidation was the primary tactic of the Vietcong.
It was never supposed to be ours. Calley and his bastards murdered women and kids and old people, they didn't just "destroy a village".
They also murdered the reputation of all of us who fought so hard to protect the Vietnamese people and to uphold our own honor as American fighting men.
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