The Charlie Company: An Analysis

Soldiers of the Charlie Company were ordered by Lieutenant Calley, on March 16, 1968, to leave the village of My Lai destroyed. During the Vietnam War, the United States supported South Vietnam and were in the process of fighting North Vietnam because of their communistic viewpoints. The fighting had been different than any other war, the Viet Cong's fighting style consisted of sneaky sniper attacks and booby traps. Their fighting style had aggravated the United States soldiers and they soon became frustrated. The Charlie Company, although never before in combat, specifically had suffered losses right before the assignment in My Lai. Their training prior to My Lai allowed gradual escalation of transforming targets into real life humans to …show more content…
Depending on the amount of time allowed effects the choice of being obedient. The more time is allowed the more likely a person will use a controlled process and consider the lasting effects of a choice. Because disobedience requires a more conscious thought, people will less likely disobey when given a short amount of time. An example of disobedience correlating with the amount of time given to a person, in the relatively same situation as the soldiers in My Lai, would be Pilot Hugh Thompson. Most soldiers on the ground follow Lt. Calley's orders because they did not have the time to consider the lasting effects or if the orders followed their ethical code. Pilot Thompson flying over My Lai noticed the situation was not right; moreover, disobeyed Lt. Calley's orders and saved civilians of My Lai. Thompson went as far as commanding his group to fire at U.S. soldiers if they started fire on the civilians of My Lai (Remember My Lai, 1989). Because of the longer amount of time Thompson got to consider the situation and the ethical dilemma, he chose to disobey orders from authority. In My Lai, soldiers were given a very short amount of time to analyze their choices for themselves. Multiple influences went into obeying authority in a timely manner, especially in combat. Firstly, soldiers had developed a mindset from …show more content…
A step-by-step involvement encourages conformity among most people, therefore, encouraging obedience as well. In general, people conform for approval, avoid conflict, and maintain social harmony. Maintaining social harmony is important for most people; moreover, resisting the social ideal takes more effort. Also, in situations where majority of people desire approval, they will be more likely to obey. The United States Army recognizes the effects gradual escalation has on the amount of obedience. Which explains why their training involves an elaborate step-by-step process. The gradual escalation in the soldiers training mainly focuses on the ability to kill a human without remorse. The training starts off with targets to shoot at and gradually stimulates a combat experience with humans. By utilizing this foot-in-the-door technique in the training process, soldiers were able to kill innocent people of My Lai without questioning their authority. Also, in the heat of battle, almost no one resisted authority which made the situation easier to follow orders. The gradual escalation of the training process soldiers had to go through to fight in combat is part of the reason the soldiers in My Lai could follow immoral assignment. Their training allowed the soldiers to not consider their own opinion of the situation or the orders themselves. Having