50 years ago

Canine · Mar 23, 2015

this month,American soldiers entered the villages of My Lai and My Khe and slaughtered 504 civilians,including 182 women,173 children and 56 infants in a totally useless war.In the 50 years since,we haven't learned a damned thing.This isn't a pleasant subject,but it should not be forgotten.

vanman2300 · Mar 23, 2015

Lt. Calley if anyone of the younger crowd would like to look this up. His reason for massacring the entire village including women and infants was he was following orders. The same excuse was given by SS soldiers when asked why they slaughtered people at the concentration camps.

On the subject of lessons learned I agree we haven't learned very much since Vietnam. On the positive side we did learn there are some orders that should never be followed.

I appreciate the enormous sacrifices our soldiers have made for those of us back home. I can't say enough to describe the sacrifices they have made as well as their families. All I can do is hope the best for them and let them know I am grateful to them.

cyndi · Mar 23, 2015

We haven't learned much. but at least we have learned to welcome our soldiers home. No military personnel should ever be treated the way our returning veterans from Vietnam were.

History has been repeating itself since the dawn of time. Hopefully, someday, man will evolve enough to move forward with out destroying other cultures.

I can't say it any better than vanman2300 said it.
"I appreciate the enormous sacrifices our soldiers have made for those of us back home. I can't say enough to describe the sacrifices they have made as well as their families."

LeeRevell · Mar 23, 2015

In the military the troops have the right, the duty, to refuse orders they know are wrong and illegal. The trick is, he'd better be able to prove it. I was once in that situation myself. I won. It did not involve anyone getting hurt, but had I followed that order and something bad happened, I would have been the fallguy. These days service members aren't being trained to realze their rights.

rjs111 · Apr 8, 2015

LeeRevell said:
In the military the troops have the right, the duty, to refuse orders they know are wrong and illegal. The trick is, he'd better be able to prove it. I was once in that situation myself. I won. It did not involve anyone getting hurt, but had I followed that order and something bad happened, I would have been the fallguy. These days service members aren't being trained to realze their rights.

On the contrary, in my technical school while I was in the Air Force a big emphasis was placed on knowing when not to follow orders. Also, during my NCO training there was a big emphasis on how to give a moral, lawful order. Mind you, my experience may have been the exception, but it was my experience nonetheless.