From Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901), British bishop, biblical scholar and theologian, serving as Bishop of Durham from 1890 until his death:
Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and perceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and last some crisis shows what we have become.
Flash news report, from an actual Viet-Nam combat vet. Free fire zones were only free-fire zones from dusk til dawn, and every effort must be made to identify potential targets or they could not be engaged. Anyone observed on starlight scopes after sunset could be considered enemy, because all the locals knew not to be out and about after dark. Villages are not included in free-fire zones, ever. All shooting had to be reported immediately day or night, in a contact report. My unit took great care to only engage VC or NVA regulars who were armed. Some guys just gotta go for the sensational. It weren’t all murder, murder, murder.
Sean,
I’m sure many US military personnel in Vietnam, including you, acted in ways for which they have no cause for shame. However, the criminality and atrocities were pervasive and well-documented, and Turse’s book incorporates many interviews with Vietnam combat vets. The point of my article is that the South Vietnamese were going to be affected more by, and remember, the criminality and atrocities, not the many instances of US restraint. It’s a debatable point, but I think by the end of the war, many, not all, of our ostensible allies were glad to see us go.
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