Paper on the Vietnam Experience from the Book "Rumor of War"

In all wars, civilians always suffer, and inexcusable deliberate acts of murder and pillage always exist. America was certainly no exception, and the public was never more conscious of its own soldiers' atrocities then during the long and confusing Vietnam conflict. Often the men who committed these cases were normal persons like anyone else until they became victims of war's pressures. In Vietnam the intense physical strains of the jungle and the feeling of constant futility warped the judgments and actions of the combat troops and changed them psychologically. …