I asked a boomer south viet expat for their opinion on this, they said "maybe they're playing"
My dad in Vietnam. His first wife whom I know only from Facebook sent me this. I asked him about it and he said they regularly interrogated locals for info. I never knew this side of the man.
I don't want to defend your dad or Amerika. I'm just not sure that I wouldn't do the same thing if I was like 18 and I was told this was my task or something.
With a smile on your face while you have a gun pointed at a random woman's head?
Just a reminder, this guy could've chosen to be among the heroes who fragged their officers or who defected; this guy chose to point a gun at civilians' heads.
"I'm not sure that"... comrade, please take my words literally. At 18 I didn't know shit about the world. I wasn't even a proper leftist till 20. @Lucien@hexbear.net
Fair enough, I can't say with certainty I wouldn't have accepted the draft at 18 and ended up in this situation; I had a tendency to follow orders a lot more than think for myself at that age, and probably could've ended up in a similar situation, and sadly even military recruiters today prey on kids who don't really grasp what they'll be doing if they join.
"just following orders" is often said following the most heinous war crimes
Well, "befehl ist befehl" wouldn't save you from the commission.
People need to keep this in mind, our fight is with is for material conditions. Put anybody in the right conditions and they can become a monster. I was. When I was in the military my mindset was purely fascist. As much as we can and should fight individuals in the moment, we need to be charitable to individuals and ruthless to systems. People can and do change on their own accord, systems need to be pulverized to change.