Sheepdog Tip of the Day, After Combat tip 141
The standard methods of on the scene rationalization fail when the enemy's child comes out to mourn over her father's body or when the enemy is a child throwing a hand grenade. And the North Vietnamese and Vietcong understood this. Among the many excellent narratives gained from personal interviews in Al Santoli's book To Bear Any Burden is the story of Troung "Mealy," a former Vietcong agent in the Mekong Delta. "Children were trained," said Mealy, "to throw grenades, not only for the terror factor, but so the government or American soldiers would have to shoot them. Then the Americans feel very ashamed. And they blame themselves and call their soldiers war criminals." And it worked.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing
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