Please Note Students Will Not Be Allowed To Complete Their Registration Until This F: Fill & Download for Free

ANSWERED 5 AUGUST 2018 - UPDATED 8 MAY 2020—PREFACE:In the history of warfare, perhaps only the armies of the Roman Empire, Genghis Khan, wage war as fiercely as the United States of America.INTRODUCTION:I believe there are more appropriate adjectives than fierce to describe how the U.S. military wages war. If I were at liberty to use another word than Fierce, I very likely would use one of the words used by Isoroku Yamamoto when he described how the U.S. waged war to the Imperial High Command. At the time, Yamamoto was the highest ranking Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Architect of the Pearl Harbor attack.He told his superiors that the U.S. wages war like no other nation in the world at the time, and then he used words such as, relentless, overwhelming, intense, complete, dominating, unstoppable, continuous, tireless, nightmarish, and so forth. However, in this Quora answer, I’ll use fierce because I do not wish to dishonor the question.FIRST COMMENT—Two American Characteristics:Please consider Yamamoto again.How he came to know the U.S. is that prior to WW2, he spent two years at Harvard doing Post Graduate study. Also, he traveled extensively in the U.S. and developed many friends. He was very interested in our industrial heartland, and was particularly impressed with our manufacturing capability. As well, he also visited several U.S. military bases.In his travels, he noticed two American characteristics that he believed stood above the others.a) Americans don’t quit something once they begin.b) Americans didn’t need to be rallied by a superior in order to do something.He said that Americans may look like they’re not serious, or that they want to play more than work, but, like his countrymen in Japan, he felt that once Americans began something, they wouldn’t quit until it was finished.Just as important, he said, was a second characteristic that stood above the others. That was that no matter what the situation, Americans were able to motivate themselves, i.e., rally themselves. He especially noticed this in U.S. military units. When an officer wasn’t present, ordinary enlisted men on a task, would take the lead and get the job completed. They didn’t need a superior present in order to be rallied.He thought both of these characteristics were a function of living in a Democracy as opposed to a non-democratic, hierarchical system such as existed in much of the world.NOTE: Understand that with Isoroku Yamamoto, we are describing one of the most brilliant and inciteful individuals in all of Japan. By all accounts, he was not beguiled by his Samaraui training into believing that the Japanese were racially and culturally superior to other nations.He told the Japanese Military Rulers that Japan could not defeat the U.S. He counseled against war with America, advising his superiors that if war occurred, Japan would be able to run wild in the Pacific for 6 months. After that, Japan would be on the defensive, and on a path to inevitable defeat.In addition to America’s industrial capability, Yamamoto believed that America’s method of fighting would be unlike anything the modern world had ever seen. As I noted above, he didn’t use fierce to describe America’s method of fighting. Instead, he used the terms I listed earlier, i.e., relentless, overwhelming, unstoppable, intense, complete, dominating, continuous, tireless, nightmarish, etc.Nevertheless, being the loyal Samurai warrior that he was, and imbued with the Code of Bushido, Yamamoto agreed to plan the Pearl Harbor attack, and later the Midway attack.(Incidentally, the Battle of Midway occurred exactly 6th months after Pearl Harbor. As you all know, Japan lost this battle. After this fight, just as Yamamoto predicted, Japan was on the defensive, and on a path to inevitable defeat).BOOK: As you might imagine, much has been written about Yamamoto. A good look at the person is American History Revised by Seymour Morris, Broadway Books, 2018, 432 pages, paperback. You can get it at Amazon with free delivery.SECOND COMMENT—A WW1 German Communique:The second comment is a communique from a German infantry field unit to headquarters. It’s late Spring, 1918. The Germans have been fighting the Americans for about a month. They realize they cannot win the war now that the Americans have entered the fight. The communique is all you need in order to understand why the Germans knew they could not win:“We are fighting the Americans. We are winning the fight. However, the Americans do not realize they are losing. When we shoot them, they rise and attack us. We use gas, but this doesn’t stop them. Except for the Gurkhas, we have never fought an army that fights like this. We don’t know what else we can do to stop them. Please advise.”Isoroku Yamamoto and Winston Churchill may have been the only non-Americans in the last two hundred years to understand the fierce and relentless American method of waging war.To reiterate, in the history of warfare, quite possibly only the Armies of the Roman Empire, Genghis Khan, and the Gurkhas fought as fiercely as the Americans.NOTE: I remind readers that, as I said above, I’m using the word, fiercely, to describe the U.S. method of waging war because it’s the word used in the Quora question, and I don’t wish to dishonor the question. To reiterate, if I allowed myself the freedom to use another word, I would very likely choose one of the following words that Isaroko Yamamoto used in describing to his superiors how the U.S. waged war, i.e.: relentless, overwhelming, unstoppable, intense, complete, dominating, continuous, tireless, nightmarish, etc.THREE FILMS:To see this ferocity illustrated, I recommend three films, that coincidentally, were made for Television. Also, all three are based on true events and true stories.The Lost Battalion. This is a made for Television movie of a true story about a U.S. Army battallion fighting the Germans in late summer 1918.Band of Brothers. This is another television production of a true story of war based on the book of the same name written by Stephen Ambrose. It’s an HBO Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks series about a Company of Airborne Infantry in Europe in WW2 from their initial forming as U.S. Airborne Infantry at Camp Taccoa, Goergia to VE Day at Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in the Alps.The Pacific, the 2nd HBO Speilberg-Tom Hanks WW2 series based on the book of the same name, and written by Hugh |Ambrose, the son of the author of Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose. The Pacific is about the 1st Marine Division in WW2, (the Old Breed) from Guadalcanal, 7 August 1942, to VJ Day 3 years later. The stories follow three Marine Legends, John Basilone, Robert Leckie, and Eugene Sledge.All three productions are excellent and based on real events and real people. The three productions pull no punches in showing the reality of war. Indeed, Band of Brothers may be the best portrayal of war ever filmed.EUGENE SLEDGE:There are many memorable scenes in these 3 productions. One scene that stays with me is of Eugene Sledge. Like his father, Sledge wants to be a medical doctor. WW2 has just ended, and to accommodate the numbers of veterans entering school, a supplementary registration process has been set up in the Men’s Gym at University of Alabama. Sledge is in line.A pretty young co-ed sitting behind the make shift folding table is looking over Sledge’s application.Without looking up, she says in her beautiful Southern Drawl. “Mr. Sledge, didn’t the Marine Corps teach you anything that can be useful here at the University of Alabama?”Sledge, who had survived some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific, and has returned with many combat awards including the Purple Heart, leans forward and says, “Lady. They taught me to kill Japs. And I got pretty F-ing good at it.”Sledge then turns away in disgust and heads to Florida where he gets a PhD in Biology and for 30 years, teaches and conducts research at U. of Florida. Along the way, Sledge also wrote a terrific book about his WW2 experiences, With the Old Breed.Note: the Old Breed is the nickname for the 1st Marine Division.AN EXCELLENT QUESTION:A couple of years ago, one of my undergraduate students asked if Americans are still like this? Are we still tough? Is the cell phone generation able to fight like their ancestors? Or have we grown soft?It’s a good question. Before you answer, consider this:The U.S. was attacked in WW2. Is this why Americans fought so fiercely in the Pacific Battles?On the other hand, the U.S. was not attacked by the Germans in WW2, or by the Germans in WW1. What explains why Americans fought so fiercely in Europe in both wars? Or, as Yamamoto expressed it, so relentlessly and nightmarishly.Furthermore, the U.S. was not attacked by the Koreans and the Chinese in the Korean War. Or by the Vietnamese, or by the Iraqis, or by the Afghanis. Yet, Americans fought as fiercely in those battles as they did against the Japanese in the Pacific, and the Germans in WW1, and WW2, and by all reports Americans continue to do so in Afghanistan today.U.S. history prior to WW1, shows Americans fighting fiercely all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Why? Is this in our DNA? We all came from somewhere else. What happened to make us like this?I believe the reason is complicated, but explainable. Among other phenomena, I believe the explanation for this fierce fighting history is connected with the history of U.S. immigration.A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS:As everyone knows, the U.S. is a nation of immigrants. But no matter where they are from, in a very short time, these Foreigners become Americans. What this means is that the new arrivals begin very quickly to adopt American ways of living, American habits, American slang, American cuss words, American sports.The new arrivals don’t always learn the American language, but, somehow, they get by. They don’t always learn American politics (which is complicated and often contradictory), but if they become citizens, they learn Civics 101 which doesn’t teach them American politics, but does teach them the rudiments of American government.In short, these “Foreigners” in a very short time begin to embrace the American culture, which means that they are beginning to become “Americans.”As exciting as this phenomenon is, it gets better:IMMIGRANT CONVERTS:It gets better because Social Scientists tell us that Converts to anything are the most dedicated, the most zealous, the most interested in preserving what they have just adopted.Moreover, Converts not only want to defend what they have just adopted, they want to sell it to others. In short, they want to convert others to what they’ve just adopted.Thus, in addition to the incredible American story of rapid economic, technological, scientific, agricultural, industrial, and geographic growth is the equally impressive story of America’s immigration.CONCLUSION:The conclusion to these stories is that in the history of the world, each of these stories becomes its own unique Phenomenon. When these unique phenomenons are combined, they explain why the United States of America is able to wage war like no nation since the Roman Empire, and, moreover, why Americans fight so fiercely, indeed, like no people since the Romans.That said, as I look back at the wars the U.S. has fought, I pray that the bond between America and her Allies continues to be strong and unbroken, for that bond is also unique in the history of the world.Semper Fi,JE-PhD—Political Science (Political Theory, Economics, History, Mathematics)“Old Corps, New Corps, Same Corps”

I met the man who would be my husband when I was 18 years old. I suffered from undiagnosed narcolepsy and this contributed to the reasons why I stayed.These incidents are not in chronological order. No accounting of abuse is complete without including the abuse directed toward the narcissist’s own children. The significant others of the Narcissist are only one of many of the victims. The only truth he ever told me, was that no one else would love me the way he did.I have spent countless hours trying to figure out how my ex-husband has managed to do the things he has done, and exactly what he actually did in these situations. If anyone has an inkling into exactly what he has pulled off, please enlighten me.Those who have been involved with a narcissist know that the toughest abuse to explain is the chronic abuse that has plausible deniability built in. It is also the most damaging.The gas-lighting was a constant. He still is the most convincing liar I’ve ever known. He would be telling me something that I knew was not true, but the absolute sincerity and certainty I would see in his eyes made me doubt my own reality.My husband expected absolute loyalty. While I am loyal, I reserve the right to reject something that I feel is morally wrong. He insisted that I was supposed to back him regardless. This was always an issue between us, especially when it came to the ostracization of people who my husband was targeting. He had targeted his best friend because the guy failed to mow our lawn when he said he would. Because I refused to participate in the bad mouthing of this guy, I was in the hot seat. I simply could not go along with this type of petty meanness and this repeatedly got me into hot water.He believed that he should be able to do as he pleased. I was fine with that, but the rules did not go both ways. The Gander was free range, but the goose was always getting cooked.Of course, there was the favorite tool used by every narcissist…the silent treatment. The first few years it had the desired effect. As the years went by I began to look forward to the silent treatment. Despite the fact that you could cut the tension in the air with a knife, the silent treatment meant that for however long it lasted, I would not have to deal with the subtle and insulting innuendos. I would not have to recite the timeline of my days. I would not have to defend myself for buying the new sheets on the bed, or for purchasing a toy for our children. The silent treatment became a time of quiet silence from his unrelenting harassment.I was working at a record store when we first met. He gave me a list of items he wanted me to get him at my discount (he didn't give me any money). I later found out these were gifts he gave to different girlfriends. That year I received the only Christmas gift I would receive in the entire 14 years we were together. A professional photograph portrait of himself.I was the epitome of the perfect Biker wife. I was easy going beyond belief. My husband ruled the roost. I created the perfect home life.We were on our”honeymoon” in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. A group of our friends was meeting us in our hotel room. My new husband starts chopping up a pile of cocaine for snorting lines. Shocked and alarmed, I asked, “Did you bring that into this Country?” He responded, “No, you did. I put it inside your purse and YOU brought it into the Country”.After the birth of our first child, he insisted I obtain paternity test to prove he was the father. I remember dialing the doctors' office and asking about paternity tests. Suddenly I stopped mid-sentence and looked at the phone like it was something alien. I could not believe I was actually asking what I was asking! Then I said “Never mind”, and hung up the phone. There were times when I had brief moments of clarity.He became jealous of the time I spent with our children. I was not spending as much time with him. He forbade me to buy things for the children. This rule turned me into a liar. Eventually, he forbade me to put the kids in any kind of sports, because that too took my time away from him.He gave me the nickname”Dummy”. An accurate name since I stayed with him for 14 years.During the seventh year together, I received anonymously, a book in the mail titled “Men That Hate Women and the Women That Love Them”. This was the first validation I had that something was not right in our relationship.Early in the relationship, we reached the agreement that my earnings would be used to pay for our family living expenses and his earnings for saving and investment. There was no savings account with both of our names. There was just a pile of cash hidden somewhere.Whenever we had an argument, he would say, “You keep your things and I will keep mine”. Naturally, all the investments were in his name and the monthly payables and debts in my name.Investments ended up being motorcycles, muscle cars, boats, airplanes, or anything else my husband looked cool driving.He always made a show of discussing purchases with me, but it didn't matter what my opinions were, or how adamant I was that I didn't want to make a certain investment, in the end, my husband would buy it anyway.In 83 we purchased a rental property. The payment was $500 monthly at no interest. We rented the house for $600 per month.In 86 we purchased a property that had two commercial storefronts (for each of our businesses) and a house on the same lot. We placed $150,000 cash for a down payment and took out a $100,000 mortgage. The monthly payment was $1,200. I finally had something to show for all the years I supported the family.It was our routine that my husband took the children to the babysitter or to school in the morning, and I picked them up in the afternoon. There were occasions where I arrived at the school, waiting for the children to come out to be picked up, but there was no sign of our children. I would be frantic and go to the office only to find out that he picked them up early. Over time I realized he was doing this on days when he was angry with me. Once, I caught him at the park across the street from the school, watching me as I frantically searched for the children. Cruel.Throughout the marriage, my husband accused me of having secret bank accounts. I did not have extra money to put into a secret account. Cleaning our bedroom one day I came across documents opening one of his secret bank accounts.In ’86 my sister came to work for me. The plan was to teach her the business so she could open a business of her own. There is a reason for the old saying “Never go into business with family”. No other employee could ever have been capable of the kind of destruction to my business that my sister created. I loved my sister and trusted her completely. My sister embezzled a large amount of money from my business. She quit working for me and moved to Northern California with some of my accounts. Before leaving she went on a shopping spree using my credit cards. I previously allowed her to buy a new car in my name (because her credit was bad) and she stopped making payments. My sister contacted family friends and business associates and began a smear campaign. She also looked up the person running the DMV in Sacramento and to this day I do not know what she told this person, but suddenly I began having difficulty getting license plates for the trucking companies I represented. The IRS was also contacting me saying they had a report of tax fraud on my business. Dealing with the fall out was taking a tremendous amount of time and energy. Eventually, I simply could not take it anymore. I could not deal with the fallout and provide the time-sensitive duties that the business required.Throughout this time, my husband was making remarks that he did not believe my version of what was occurring, and I was desperate to obtain proof.I referred my clients to an old employer of mine and began the process of transferring my clients' files. A few weeks later, I received a letter from this old employer telling me that she had come across a handwritten letter my sister had sent to a client of hers. The Trucker had given my sister money to pay his license and registration fees. My sister had provided him with a fraudulent registration with a note attached to it that said, “Here is a registration to operate on until I get you your permanent registration. If you get caught using it, tell them you got it from Janet at Truck Licensing Services. She lives and works in Glendora CA and she has blond hair”. This evidence became crucial to reversing much of the problems created by my sister. When I showed the letter to my husband he seemed surprised. Any time I would talk to him about what was happening, he would laugh. He seemed to get great pleasure and amusement out of this thing that caused me so much pain.The loss of my business marked the first time in the marriage that my husband was required to pay the families monthly living expenses. My husband was not happy about it. We rented out the building that once housed my business for $1,000 per month, bringing what we had to come up with for the mortgage payment to only $200.He would spend hour upon hour each evening berating me for the loss of my business. I regularly cried myself to sleep each night.I gave our bills to my husband to write checks out. He wrote the checks and about a month later I began to receive late notices from our creditors. I went to my husband and asked if he sent the payments out late. That’s when he told me he had not mailed the payments at all.We had our normal monthly bills and the property taxes were also due. He kept me up all night arguing. He wanted to just pay the property taxes and I wanted to pay the bills and get a loan to pay the tax bill. Finally, I begged for him to allow me to sleep awhile and we could finish the discussion when I woke. When I woke up and went into my office, my secretary informed me that she got the taxes in the mail as my husband told her to.I had begun seeing a therapist. Each office visit I would go in and spend the entire time crying. I decided to write out the past year of what had gone on in my life. By the time I was finished, I was seriously pissed off at my husband and I was ready to leave. When I left the marriage I believed that the worst was over. How naive I was. The final time we spoke to each other he told me “He was going to teach me poverty”. I responded, “Given the choice of living with him or living with poverty, I would opt for poverty.I moved out of the house with the children because my husbands business was on the same property. The unpaid past due bills were in my name so I had to move in with a friend who already had utilities in their name. My Ex-allowed me to collect the monthly rental of my old business building as child support. I took out a $5,000 loan, which allowed me to pay some of the delinquent debts and I was able to get utilities in my name again. There was enough left over to place 1st and last on a house to rent.One day my attorney office called to tell me there was an emergency hearing that was being held the next day and I was required to appear. Upon my arrival, I was handed a copy of an Order to Show Cause and a declaration submitted by my husbands' attorney. My husband told a story of my children living in a crack house. He said I was shooting up drugs in front of the children, having group sex and orgies in the children's presence, and that the children had witnessed a fight between two of my boyfriends and been so frightened that they crawled out of their bedroom window at 2 o’clock in the morning. The children were removed from my custody that afternoon pending investigation.I drove home in a state of shock. When I pulled into the driveway a police cruiser pulled in behind me. I was taken into custody on a warrant. The warrant was actually a body attachment from an old case in which I failed to appear as a witness in a spousal abuse case against my husband. It was a Friday night so the court would not sort it out until Monday. To this day my rap sheet erroneously shows this case as me who had assaulted my husband.I was only allowed to visit my children with supervision, and I was not allowed to talk with them about the allegations. Finally, a hearing was held and the boys were questioned. My youngest son was asked if he ever saw his mother using a needle. He responded, “Yes. She sews sometimes”. A Judge spoke to the children in chambers and when the judge returned to the court my ex-husband was reprimanded and told never to lie to the court again. My attorney said custody was being awarded to my husband. I said, “Do you have any idea what this man is really about?” I was told if I objected to his custody, the children would be placed in foster care and it would be years to get them out.I was questioned by my state-appointed representation about my drug use. I admitted that I used amphetamine daily. I was asked why, and I told them “Because I can’t wake up”. I used amphetamine since the age of 15. I began having sleep issues around the age of 12, and by my freshman year of High School, I was failing all of my classes. One day I took some of my brother’s Ritalin and went to school. My grades went from “F” to “A” overnight. I have used amphetamine ever since. My husband was my supplier for the last 14 years. I thought that by telling the courts the truth, that someone would help me discover the reason why I could not wake up. That's not what happened.Without my children, I no longer had a reason to strive. I let the rented house go and rented a couch to sleep on from a friend. My husbands smear campaign had new fuel and the entire town was stoking the flames.My attorney suffered a nervous breakdown during these proceedings. The last thing he filed was a request for an order for my ex-husband to pay the payments on the second mortgage I had taken out to pay the old utility bills.The divorce case was now a complicated mess and I could not find an attorney to take the case without a $5,000 retainer. The case was stagnating from 1990 to 1993. I found a lawyer who agreed to take the case in 1993 for $3,000 retainer.In 1993 I went to a real estate agent to obtain the current market values on the properties we owned. That was when I learned that I no longer owned the property called the “family home” by the courts. The house had been foreclosed on by the second mortgage holder. All notices were sent to the address where my ex was living with our sons. My share of the property was sold at auction to my mother in laws best friend.When we were together, my husband had kept the seedier side of the Biker Community segregated to the area of his repair shop. The children and I rarely interacted with people in the gangs. When the children went to live with him all of that changed. The various Clubs were a part of my children’s lives now. They also became a thorn in my side. I was constantly harassed any time I was seen in public. Eventually, it got so bad I moved 500 miles away, making it more difficult to see my children.I learned that my Ex had our sons take out life insurance policies on each other. They were required to pay the premiums with their own money. I suspect he did this knowing that if one of the boys died, the insurance company would hand him the check, not our minor child.My Ex took my son’s to an attorney’s office when they were still kids to have them sign papers “so they could receive an inheritance from him upon his death”. My son’s simply signed whatever papers their father put in front of them. I suspect the signatures were needed for some nefarious purpose. I also suspect the Ex husbands living trust is a vehicle to obtain life insurance on all of the family members.I managed to save enough for a used car, and six months later the car was stolen on the same night that the Club my Ex was involved with was spotted at the local pub.The divorce began in 1989 and was not final until 1997. I was the only party to bring in the documentation of our debts and assets.It’s commonplace to award a fraction of the married couples community property assets to a spouse who admitted the regular use of an illicit drug. The Judges would see the imbalance of monetary awards as a form of equity and reparation to the innocent spouse (in this case, my narcissistic psychopath Ex-husband).The final settlement in the divorce was a joke. I was stuck with all of the community debt. I received none of the family home equity.I received enough money to pay my attorney fees which totaled $50,000 and cash to me was $10,000.I received nothing for the Motor Cycle repair business I helped him build.I also was forced to remain partners with my narcissist in the rental property, but I never received any portion of the rents received over the years.I was awarded our 5th wheel camping trailer, but he was awarded the truck that hauled it.I was awarded a $20,000 drag racing motorcycle and my narcissist handed it to me in a milk crate. When I objected to this as unacceptable, the Judge yelled at me to just take it.The final settlement stated that the court was giving my ex-husband as much time as he needed to make the equalizing payment.In 1999 I went back into Court because my ex-husband was not providing our children with basic human needs. He had not taken them for basic healthcare checkups. He was not providing personal hygiene needs like shampoo, soap, etc. The children did not have clothing and my youngest son’s feet had become misshapen from wearing shoes that were too small. The Court accepted a note from my exhusbands mother, that said the boys were regularly seen by doctors and my concerns were dismissed. California Statutes require that Child Protective Services investigate any allegation of neglect or abuse, yet the Court ignored the LAW for the narcissist.There was one point I was arguing and the Judge was forced to rule against the narcissist. The Judge turned to my ex-husband and said, “I’m sorry, but she is within her rights on this”.I was ordered to pay child support, even though my ex-husband had been collecting the $1,000 monthly rent on the building that was once my office, and was previously considered child support when I had the children.The Court's bias toward my drug use cost me everything I worked so hard for all of those years that I was functioning at a fairly high level. Eventually, it also cost me my freedom.In 2001, before turning myself in to do my prison time, I signed my interest in the rental property over to my two sons. I knew that once I was in prison my narcissist would swindle me out of the property. I prayed about it, and the answer I received was to give it away. It was much less painful to lose this last asset when I was able to choose who I lost it to. I executed a quit claim to my sons and gave it to their father, telling him to teach them about real estate.It was not until after my release from prison in 2003, that my youngest son turned 18 and came to live with me again. He had been living with me for just a few weeks when with dawning horror, I came to realize he was suffering the same symptoms that I suffered from the age of 12. I sat my son down and told him my experience with excessive daytime sleepiness and I promised him I was going to get to the bottom of what was going on with us. I went to Parole and told them my history. I hoped they would know what it was since they had vast experience with people using amphetamine. Parole gave me the run around for the next 18 months. Frustrated, I began using our symptoms as search criteria on Google. Narcolepsy kept being returned. Long story short, both my son and I underwent sleep studies and were diagnosed with Narcolepsy.From the moment I was diagnosed, there have been people in law enforcement who have created problems in my ability to obtain treatment for the disease. The Drug Enforcement Administration writes letters to my doctors. Apparently, my file has been flagged and I’ve been labeled a drug seeker. When I was denied Medi-Cal, I was informed at a hearing that a panel of doctors deemed my narcolepsy to be “insignificant” and “the disorder had no major effect on my ability to function in life”. Flabbergasted, I turned to the Judge and said, “No doctor, not one, ever attempted to speak to me to ask me what the effects were from having narcolepsy. I went to PRISON behind this thing, and believe me when I tell you that my experience in prison was not insignificant to me. As a teen, I went from failing all of my classes in school, to a student at the top of my class, after finding amphetamine. Medication for me is the difference between utter failure and shining success. The difference between the two could not be described as “insignificant”. The Judge granted me the Medi-Cal, but the victory was moot because I still could not find a doctor to treat me. It was six years since the diagnosis when a sympathetic doctor confided that he doubted I will ever find ANY doctor willing to treat me. The DEA has a definite “chilling effect”.I discovered in 2004 that my narcissist had never given our sons the quit claim I executed in 2001. The property was now entirely in my Narcissist’s living trust.My narcissist wanted to sell the rental property and told our sons they would each get $5,000. Their actual share of the property was $50,000 each. For some reason, my signature was needed, despite me already releasing interest in 2001. There was a court hearing and the Court required that I execute another quit claim in 2006.For some reason, escrow was still requiring that I sign documents for the sale. The thing was, the documents they wanted me to sign always had “Narcissist Living Trust” typed above or below the place where they wanted me to sign. After months of duress, I finally signed the documents on the condition that each of my sons would receive $50,000 and I would receive $25,000.I was not allowed to see any of the escrow documents for the sale of this property. My youngest son has managed to come across a few documents. He found one document that shows me as a borrower on the rental property.The proceeds for the sale of the rental came from a company that handles 1031 exchanges. The check was made payable to my Ex husband and my oldest son. My youngest sons name was not on the check. My Ex-husband took my youngest son to a small business bank and had him open an account in the names of our two sons.During this time I experienced an adverse reaction to a new narcolepsy medication called Xyrem. In short, I experienced a prolonged psychosis. I moved out to the desert and my son moved back in with his father.I did not know if I was going to survive the psychosis and I decided to leave all of my worldly belongings with my son. He was working a job that took him out of town during the week, and he only returned on the weekends. Upon his return one weekend, he found that his father had moved my things to his vacation home and had given away the rest.My Ex moved a new girlfriend into his home. His girlfriend suffers from OCD and cannot tolerate the movement of any item in the household. She will become hysterical if an item is moved even a few inches from its original place. Unfortunately, my son is a whirling tornado of movement in the environment. Friction between the two ensued. My son told me his father’s girlfriend had thrown bleach into the washer with his dark clothes. The girlfriend set off fumigation bug bombs in the house, leaving my son inside sleeping. My son owned a truck and a motorcycle. If he took his truck anywhere when he would return there would be damage to his motorcycle. When he took the motorcycle, there would be damage to the truck. My son was placing the blame for these incidents entirely upon the girlfriend, but I believe he doesn’t want to entertain the idea that his father is either putting the girlfriend up to these things or the sole person responsible. I believe he was the person doing these things and framing her.My youngest son began looking for property to purchase. He found one he liked for $210k. It had two houses on the lot. My son put his $50k and I put in 20k for the down payment. The real estate agent put him in touch with a loan broker who said she could arrange a mortgage with an $800 monthly paymentBy the time escrow closed the payment was $1500 monthly. After moving in we discovered the houses were severely termite damaged and the County assessor estimated the property value at land value of $75k.We attempted to litigate the issues and we were informed we had no standing.Meanwhile, the property went into foreclosure and was sold at auction to a Michael Jackson. I ran a search for other addresses affiliated with this person and a P.O. box came back. I ran a search on the P.O. box, and the address that was once my office was returned. The man who purchased the property used to rent my office from my ex-husband. A coincidence?I believe that somehow, my ex-husband became the lender for the property my son purchased. He then used predatory lending practices on his own son, driving the monthly payment double what my son agreed upon. Keep in mind that this is also the son who has narcolepsy.My son almost lost control of his motorcycle, after having left the motorcycle at his father’s home for a few days. Anytime he reached speeds over 20 mph, the steering became uncontrollable. He drove the MC to his father’s repair shop and asked him to take a test drive because he felt like he was going to die driving. His father refused, and told him “Bring the bike back in two days”. He didn’t say, “Leave the bike here and I’ll give you a ride home”, he just watched him leave on the bike. The following day my son put the MC on blocks so he could examine what was causing the problem. He noticed that there was road dirt on the spokes, but in spots, the road dirt was smudged clean. That’s when he realized that all of the spokes on the front wheel had been loosened. He took the bike to a different repair shop and was told someone had to deliberately do that to the spokes.6 months before that incident, my son was involved in a motorcycle accident, but cannot remember the accident itself. He was not able to examine the wreckage because his father sold the bike and shipped it overseas before he was able to get out of bed. There is very little left of a motorcycle after it is involved in an accident. This makes it nearly impossible for forensics to determine the cause of an accident. His father is well aware of these facts. Even if there was evidence of tampering that was detectable by the Police, the investigation would only point to his fathers' girlfriend as the person who wished harm to my son.I did not find out about the following incident until 2010 when my son finally told me of it. One night, my Ex husbands motorcycle shop was broken into and a couple of motorcycles stolen. To get the bikes back, their father decided to do a home invasion on the suspect's house. My two sons and their father dress up in black and gather together the guns they will take. Both of my son's are wearing Kevlar vests (bullet proof). Keep in mind that their father has enough inventory in the shop to build at least twenty bikes just like the ones stolen. At this point, the home invasion doesn't have anything to do with the vehicles and has everything to do with their fathers' ego. Right before the three of them are going to storm The door, their father turns to the youngest boy and asks if he can borrow his Kevlar vest. In silence, my son handed his vest to his father. His father placed the vest on himself, and the three of them entered the house. They were able to get one of the bikes back. My son, his brother, nor their father, ever spoke of the vest again. It was seven years before I learned of the incident. My youngest son kept that painful experience bottled up inside of him. To speak of it meant having to acknowledge that his father deemed him to have the least value.During the same time period, several friends of my son mentioned to him that his father was spreading strange rumors. One friend who had not seen him for a while was surprised to find my son looking physically fit and presentable. He told my son that my Ex was telling people that my son was a Hype (injecting drugs intravenously). My Ex knows a great number of people, so this rumor was carried far.My son found correspondence from the Internal Revenue Service, in regards to an irrevocable trust, with my son's name on it. My son has never created an irrevocable trust.My daughter in law was visiting me when she asked me about the Narcissists living trust. She indicated the Narcissist had included her in the trust “so she could collect an inheritance upon his death”. I told her that I believed the trust was a vehicle to obtain life insurance. Six months later, my 32-year-old daughter in law died unexpectedly, leaving three children without a mother.After the foreclosure, I went to live with my recently widowed eldest son, and three of his four daughters. I was filling the role that their mother left vacant. I was taxiing kids, taking them to doctors, cleaning the house, cooking meals, doing yard work, you name it, I was doing it.After the foreclosure, my youngest son moved into the old “family home”. My ex-husband purchased a home in an exclusive neighborhood several years earlier. The ex attempted to turn the family home into a “gentleman's club”, which is a fancy way of saying brothel. The house even had a strippers pole. When that didn’t work out he took to renting out rooms in the now seven bedroom house. All the bedrooms were rented when my son arrived, so he slept in the hallway for a while. He eventually got one of the rooms, but three months later his father told him that all of the tenants had to move because he was renting out the entire house (except for one large room that was rented by a business) to one person.My son moved into a temporary place for three months and then became homeless. He and his girlfriend were camping out in the San Gabriel Valley mountains. He told me he found a motor home that he wanted to buy, so I gave him $300 to buy the vehicle and have a roof over his head.I was spending a great deal of time investigating (as much as possible when you have no funds) the various situations created by the narcissist that made absolutely no sense. My oldest son was getting aggravated because I was not handling as much of the work as I previously had. I was also feeling very guilty that I was living in a nice home, while my youngest son was homeless and struggling. My oldest son was very angry when I told him I was leaving to be homeless with his brother.My oldest son has taken on many of his father's narcissistic traits. He is the designated Golden Child and believes it is proper for him to receive special treatment. During my stay with the GC, he sold my car and kept all of the money. Never once did he offer to pay me for my time spent doing chores for him. During the three years, I lived with him and took care of his children the only thing I asked for was food for my cat. He also paid for me to buy some makeup and a bra. He treated me like I was his maid. My oldest son thinks that it is okay for him to take his brother's property. He is constantly stealing things from his brother. His father has taken his weaknesses and compounded them.The family dynamic the narcissist has created destroyed the once close relationship between my sons. It is heartbreaking.I am sure you have discerned by now that my youngest son is the designated scapegoat. This son has been the target of his father's narcissistic bullying since he was eight years old. As a child, he was someone blessed with a purity of soul, and a propensity towards honesty. It was always apparent to me that he was older than anyone else in the family. He has a strength of character that defies the ugly family dynamic.I moved into the old, gutted, motorhome with my son and his girlfriend. My son had parked the motorhome on the property that was the “family home”. The people that were planning on renting the house gave the narcissist $20k to remodel the house but never moved in. They were afraid of the other tenants. The Narcissists Motorcycle repair shop and the tattoo parlor on the property tend to attract some tough looking people.One day my son had his daughter for the weekend. All four of us were in the motorhome when it began to rain. The motorhome was leaking like a sieve. It was coming down real hard. I thought about the house sitting empty and thought, screw this. I broke into the house and made my granddaughter a dry bed to sleep in. That is how we ended up living inside the house.I find myself getting increasingly depressed living here in the house that I RAN away from thirty years ago. My Exhusband never put any money that he gained from renting the structures on the property, back into the property for maintenance. The exterior has not seen a drop of paint. The house was infested with roaches and rats. The septic tank has not been pumped since we purchased the property in 1986. Consequently, raw sewage backs up into the crawl space on a regular basis. The moisture in the crawl space has created mold issues. During a recent rain, my son pointed out that in places where water was puddling in the yard, each puddle was squirming with larva of some kind. My ex-husband took what was once a beautiful property, and turned it into a toxic waste site.

Not everyone has forgotten My Lai. Over the years I reluctantly have taken a look deeper at it to get a picture of what went on, as time and patience permits. Certainly it is not for the squeamish. He divorced his wife in 2005, whom he married after ditching his girl that stood by him through Vietnam and just after the subsequent trial IIRC. The choice one was from a wealthier family, it seems.Believe it or not, by 1970 Calley tapped upon the vein of reactionary resistance, the Archie Bunker types in the South, and was rather felt sorry for, incredibly. On the sly he also curried up to the student protest group with the snappy ‘make war no more’. Wonder if that would have helped the ODESSA network?Calley is still alive in Georgia, though some very interesting testimony and interviews have taken place without him.‘Sometime in 2005 or 2006, Calley divorced his wife, Penny, whose father had employed him at the V.V. Vick jewelry store in Columbus, Georgia, since 1975, and moved to downtown Atlanta to live with his son, William Laws Calley III.[19]’William Calley - WikipediaWas he guilty of independent action or ‘just following orders’? How much of either? Certainly there was a lot of hype in getting the enemy, raising the spectre of even Amphetamine - Wikipedia use. However, the accounts were not frenzied, rather cool and calculating. I see no evidence of such drug use.Time Life Vietnam War series has some references to that, to be posted later, but frankly I would want to see some better sources than that, though they quoted mainly military photographer Ronald L. Haeberle - Wikipedia. Not a saint, he did not even think much of it, possibly in his own admission thinking war is always like that since it was his first shoot in an actual engagement. He also saw Calley order executions of civilians.There was a pep rally before the operation started. Probably he had some damaging evidence against the Army. In the trial he writes in his book at the time of joining the Anti War people, likely to save his skin. I think there was a poster in a picture behind him, but the book is at home and not available at present.Calley’s Ghost | VQR OnlineA bit of an exaggeration on the looks department, but he was certainly not the brightest tool in the shed.Calley ten years ago, with a hint of smile.‘He flunked out of college and received a draft notice, he was to return to’Keep in mind this was the year they were actually drafting Marines, as an experiment that failed. They never drafted officers, except doctors and engineers and lawyers, but here Calley was talked into becoming an officer by a recruiter, IIRC. Probably the recruiter was enamored by the fact Calley had some grade level military school, sent by parents because of the usual case in the institutions— childhood discipline problems.Don’t laugh, as it happened in WWII (see the military school drop out, later actor Marlin Brando biographies, as he was eagerly wanted as a military grade school school drop out — until rated a 4-F medical disqualification). Also in WWII, standards were relaxed for future religion maker of Scientology, L.Ron Hubbard became an officer and spent all his ordinance attacking a log and a few weeks later causing a diplomatic affair by a practice bombardment of an ‘uninhabited’ rock off of San Diego, which happened to be in Mexico with an occupied fishing camp and manned light house or something like that.Hubbard never led an independent command again, unlike Calley, and joined a sex cult with JPL founder Jack Parson to summon the anti Christ soon after WWII. (I think William Calley kept his commands, post My Lai, for about 18 months till publicity started, as the Army wanted to hide the company/regiment, attempting to bury the publicity of massacre.)Maybe it also happened in the Korean War, too. Clint Eastwood decidedly did not go to a military school, in fact opting out of a classy school to go to a blue collar one out of district, where he felt more comfortable. But stateside in the war and in uniform already, as newly enlisted he was asked to go OSC, probably he suggests due to ‘looking like what an officer’s bearing should be’ or words to that effect. Read it in a biography once.————————————————Anyway, when the military schedule men are desperate, standards are relaxed, in particular 1967–68 US Army. Then more so, as they were then even called “McNamara’s Dummies” What happened during the Vietnam War that nobody talks about today? I have read extensively about the event for about 20 years.‘Although, with over 400 questioned witnesses and over 20,000 pages of reports and most everyone stating the same facts, that Lt. Calley ordered and participated in the killings, it could be difficult to prove the scapegoat theory (Home - BBC News). But its not quite the scapegoat in that sense, during this time the morale of troops and U.S. sentiments for the war were at an all time low, people think that the [US government put all the blame on Calley].’Lieutenant William Calley and the My Lai Massacre—————————————————I recall another trial, this time of a substandard and incompetent Navy Captain of a ship, whose name escapes me, about 1964–65. In court the Navy’s prosecution went into over drive and over kill, so much so that alienated the jury (aren’t they military, too?) rebelled and blamed the Navy. Part of the reason he was found not guilty or of far lesser charges was that everyone was surprised that the Navy did not get rid of him sooner, and was thus culpable as an accessory. We are talking about the government here.—————————Calley says in his book that he heard his orders to kill them over the radio, and previously had been verbally disciplined by his direct superior Ernest Medina - Wikipedia for being too soft or something like that. Medina fairly recently arrived in a retirement home after employment at a helicopter factory owned by his famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey - Wikipedia and is still alive, by the way.My Lai “I will go to jail for this” Medina was reported to have said, possibly the night after the incident. He was disheartened to find out how many had been killed. Calley said more than fifty [far too low], Brooks said as many, and LaCross reported six.[thankfully a completely bogus report, akin to Vietnam War body count controversy - Wikipedia inflation — no people, including noncombatants, were shot] “Oh my God,” thought Medina “What happened? He knew noncombatants had died, but not that many.In the end, a clever lawyer got him off the hook. Medina was employed at the helicopter factory Bailey owned for the rest of his working life. Lt. Brooks later committed suicide in Vietnam.Many politicians, especially those in the South, came out in favor of both Calley and to an extent Medina, including the gushing then governor Jimmy Carter, later president who pardoned most draft resisters . ‘As governor of Georgia, he responded to the 1971 sentencing of Lt. William Calley of My Lai massacre infamy by calling upon his fellow Georgians to "honor the flag" as Calley had done, and to leave their headlights on to show their supportSo far the closest available found was, oddly, on April 1st, 1971, with the Palladium-Item - Wikipedia newspaper of Richmond, Indiana.This might have been made for out of state consumption, but generally gives favor for Carter in the last paragraph, insofar as saying that the trial was ‘legitimate’, but that his superiors should have gotten the same deal. We will see what the Georgian newspapers say, especially in Columbus (written December 2020), if like so many politicians say two different things to different audiences (biographies write he had already decided to run for the presidency by 1971). Southern Georgia, particularly near military bases, might take offense to thinking the trial was legitimate.Also on April 1st, Carter called the Calley verdict “shocking”, saying it “puts every man that has been drafted and sent there (Vietnam) in a very doubtful position. It will seriously demoralize our troops.”A day later, April 2nd, then Governor Jimmy Carter (printed in Lancaster New Era, defunct 2009, of Pennsylvania) said the following of Nixon's action: "I think it's a wise decision ... The people of this country were very disturbed about the outcome of the trial -- regardless of whether they felt the jury did right or wrong -- and I think it will help to alleviate tensions in the country." So far, not bad. Two days later he started to slip. Stay tuned.Time Magazine April 12, 1971 - support throughout the mid west and Southern states. Indiana's Governor, Edgar Whitcomb, ordered all flags on state property flown at half mast in protest against the verdict. Calley seen as the scapegoat. George Wallace paid a 12 minute call on Calley enroute to a pro Calley rally attended by Mississippi's Governor John Bell Williams and Georgia's Lt. Governor Lester Maddox. Jimmy Carter, then Governor of Georgia, proclaimed an "American Fighting Man's Day" the week Calley was convicted and asked citizens to drive with their car headlights on. Draft boards in Athens, Ga and Huron County, Mich, resigned en masse. A South Georgia sheriff said he would not arrest AWOL soldiers promising to protect them any way he could until this Calley mess is cleaned up. The Texas senate called for a presidential pardon; Free Calley bumper stickers started appearing everywhere. This response - is usually political; because America could not accept that the war was wrong, but improbably leftists and hippies also supported Calley and his freedom. Other veterans claimed that if the same rules had been applied to commanders in WWII they would have been tried. They too had ordered their troops to shoot anything that moved.[See Brian McCaskill in my question’s answer’s comment section, as I posted a ton of more sources for that, including the direct source of The Atlanta Constitution (front page April 2, 1971) as is online via registration. But you might get them here for the headlights issue.honor the flag as Rusty had done. headlights——————————————————79% of Americans were against the verdict according to one poll, and an election year was coming up for the presidency, all House of Representatives, and many others. In polarized times, both right and left wanted Calley freed, especially politicians with their Tail risk - Wikipedia..Even hippies and steelworkers, construction men and college radicals shared this idea, although for different reasons.6 Apr 1971, Tuesday political cartoon by Hugh Haynie Gave Louisville Great Editorial Cartooning, Contributed to Public Debate | 89.3 WFPL News Louisville===============================Beyond the Myth: Remembering Jimmy Carter, the President(New York Times in 1976 quotes the Atlanta Constitution for a somewhat watered down version. Carter did at the least subtly conflate the two, but also apparently gave distance in a politicians suave tongue. So see my comment below and some one do detailed research to how much Carter said what then, as well as my answer to Brian McCaskill for an enormous attention to the issue. Gah!=====================================Long after the event, the guy who may have shot the most people and was the last if not one of the last to stop shooting, interviewed in a rest home, was put into CD. Anyway it was horrifying to listen to. What happened to the company — as well as the helicopter pilot and crew that stopped the carnage at risk of his life by US troops? According to the CD, they covered it up, and sent them on hazardous missions.Calley, a commissioned officer, had an incident about a year after My Lai (still the long arm of the law, or rather the media, had not yet caught up with him). In May or June 1969 near Chu Lai Base Area, Calley and two other Americal Division officers were in a jeep that passed a jeep containing five Marines. The Army jeep pulled the Marines over and one Army officer (not Calley) told the Marines "You soldiers better square away!"One of the Marines yelled, "We ain't soldiers, motherfucker, we're Marines!" In the ensuing fracas, two of the officers were briefly hospitalized while Calley was merely beaten up. They pleaded guilty, saying they had not known the victims had been officers. Our friend testified against them. Here is a nice picture link of a sullen Calley with facial bruises after the encounter with these several Marines, he apparently being passive in the affair. Sadly the picture was used as evidence in the trial against said Marines:Marines and Military Law in VietnamA very strange situation about the Marines & hapless misfit Calley on the tail of a distinctly tragic situation.The American participants were for the most isolated and dangerous parts of Vietnam, told to shut up, and all evidence was covered up apparently was the Army cure for the incident. This includes hero Hugh Thompson Jr. - Wikipedia. , who was practically given a death duty after stopping My Lai from going on further and protected at the point of guns against fellow Americans. Maybe death duty is too strong a word. Were the participants allowed to go on the two week RR out of the country as everyone was, and if so did they contact the media there? Just curious.He came back, but severely wounded a few times including the last. He died in 2006. Also dead is Larry Colburn: The last ‘hero’ of My Lai . Dying in this carnage is fellow helicopter crew ,Andreotta, 20, died in combat three weeks after My Lai, Helicopters were always dangerous, though all the elements, guilty or pro villager, were send deep into ‘Indian county’ (sic).‘Thompson and Colburn were called traitors. Decades later they were lauded as heroes. Either way, My Lai never left them alone.’‘“It took a huge chunk out of our lives,” Colburn said in an interview last year with Stars and Stripes. “We felt terrible we didn’t intervene sooner, that we couldn’t do more. We completely took the word ‘hero’ out of our vocabularies.”’(Mind you, here was a company of heavily armed soldiers who were not in their chain of command. Calley and Colburn quarreled initially, but Colburn reluctantly backed down with Calley’s emphatic answers shouted that he was following lawful orders or something like that. Later he took up the issue to the point of guns, saving several dozens still in the area including many Viet about ready to be stormed in a building. Besides, Colburn was only a warrant officer while Calley was a Lt. )‘Thompson: What's going on here, Lieutenant?Calley: This is my business.Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?Calley: Just following orders.Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?Calley: Just following...Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I'm in charge here. It ain't your concern.Thompson: Yeah, great job.Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.Thompson: You ain't heard the last of this!’Glenn Andreotta - Wikipedia(both quotations are in above link; but Four Hours in My Lai cites some court testimony from others in Calley’s platoon that heard just about the same, as well as radio chatter.)‘Soon after he was killed by hostile fire, Andreotta received a posthumous Bronze Star for his part in rescuing children at My Lai. The citation falsified what happened at My Lai by saying the children had been "hiding in a bunker located between friendly forces and hostile forces engaged in a heavy firefight." It went on to say "Andreotta's willingness to risk his life for innocent children and his bravery in action reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, the Americal Division, and the United States Army." Hugh Thompson's signature was forged on the eyewitness report.[citation needed] Andreotti received a posthumous Courage of Conscience Award for his unusual bravery and compassion in helping, along with helicopter crew members Hugh C. Thompson Jr. and Lawrence Coburn, to save civilian lives during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968.’Covering up to the last. At least they did not have a line of men falsely receiving medals, only to have them taken back as soon as the media left. This happened in several books relating several different incidents and dates of eye witnessed events, including Col Hackworth’s About Face. Twice the person giving the medals was Westmoreland himself. Hackworth (and John Paul Vann) warned the military that the extreme push plus guerrilla warfare would make the men snap.This is attested to by 'Our Boys': 50 Years After the My Lai Massacre - Antiwar.com Original “This would not be just another fruitless and exhausting patrol, [Captain Medina] promised. Finally they would have an opportunity for "payback," a chance to avenge their buddies recently killed by booby traps and sniper fire. "When we go into My Lai, it’s open season," one man recalled Medina saying. "When we leave, nothing will be living (4)." Another man recalled these words: "Nothing [will] be walking, growing, or crawling…. They’re all VCs, now go in and get them."That should have damned Medina right there. I wonder how F. Lee Bailey (his famous lawyer) discredited those words, probably at the peak of his persuasiveness.“When Calley was convicted, the White House was inundated with thousands of telegrams calling on the president to offer clemency. Nixon responded by having Calley removed from prison and put under house arrest 7′ in his bachelor officers’ quarters. After three and a half years, the secretary of the army, with Nixon’s tacit approval, reduced Calley’s sentence, making him eligible for parole.” Some 80% of American adults were polled as stating something like Calley got a raw deal.Mmm.Lets continue with the Meadlo account: “about sixty Vietnamese who had been rounded up and made to squat down, Lieutenant Calley approached and ordered Meadlo to "take care of them. 9 At first, Meadlo did not understand. "Come on," Calley barked, "we’ll kill them. Fire when I say ‘Fire.’" Meadlo obeyed.https://www.pulitzer.org/article/i-sent-them-good-boy-and-they-made-him-murderer“Meadlo is curious also about the role of Capt. Medina in the incident.“I don’t know if the C.O. (commanding officer) gave the order to kill or not, but he was right there when it happened. Why didn’t he stop it? He and Calley passed each other quite a few times that morning, but didn’t say anything. Medina just kept marching around. He could’ve put a stop to it anytime he wanted.”“As for Calley, Meadlo told of an incident a few weeks before Pinkville.“We saw this woman walking across this rice paddy and Calley said, ‘Shoot her,’ so we did. When we got there the girl was alive, had this hole in her side. Calley tried to get someone to shoot her again; I don’t know if he did.”In addition, Calley and Medina had told the men before Pinkville, Meadlo said, “that if we ever shoot any civilians, we should go ahead and plant a hand grenade on them.”Again, pretty damning, but hopefully (?) this was gone over in the trial.However it is put, the whole place was a farce for the man in the field, in my opinion, including the cover-up. Were it not for the pictures, all would have been much, much harder to do so. Sgt. Haeberle was not bent on exposing, sort of ambivalent. However, he did not turn in the color copies, only the B/W ones, which languished in a desk drawer. The color ones eventually made its way back home and after a while into the Ohio newspaper Plain Dealer, via a high school classmate.He admitted to destroying a number of pictures which showed Americans murdering the Vietnamese citizens, as it happened, not just the aftermath. Pretty grim.‘And from there it grew’ “Yes, it grew. My platoon leader, my officer the Lt [Calley] said for me to kill everyone and he would watch me. If I didn’t do that he said I could be shot myself.” (mmm, Lt. Calley threatening to shoot his own men if they did not shoot women and children. Fry the bastard I say. There is no statute of limitations on murder, though sadly there is a proscription on Double jeopardy - Wikipedia.)==============================================================Several section My Lai interviews soon after they got back from Vietnam War (out of military service and able to talk).More interviewing, this time about 35 years afterwards, including Hugh Thompson, the helicopter pilot who stopped the massacre from going any further.Hugh Thompson: Shining Beacon In Vietnam’s Darkest MassacreNote the map on similar incident of the sister company at My Khe within minutes of My Lai (Son My), and only two kilometers (a little or a mile for those metric challenged) to the East/South/East. Maybe 70 people died in that one, but the evidence is really murky and really needs a lot of interviews before the people pass away.An earlier Hugh Thompson (helicopter) interview (at end of tape), specifically that he told his men to open fire if the other Americans (Army Infantry) started killing the civilians again while he got them out of the bunker to fly them out.==========================================================6:55 “Medina was almost a folk hero.”8:00 Lt. Calley was “Always trying to please Captain Medina … which were not called for … [it] made him resent him even more” “[Medina] ridiculed Calley, tried to make him do things.” “Rank went to his head, which is always a no - no.”My Lai Massacre : Documentary on the My Lai Massacre in the Vietnam War(American Experience Films) they keep on changing the address, so do a Youtube search with the words in bold. Actually, it looks like they took it off. Maybe better that way, despite the above quotes. Not very complete in my understanding.“"I don't think Medina had any interest in all the details what's going on out there. “Fred Widmer, radio operator remarking on the situation weeks before My Lai.“If officers and NCOs start behaving badly, then there is nothing in a difficult situation where young men are feeling frightened for their lives, not knowing the difference. They expected to be shown what is right and what is wrong by the officers by the NCO's. And when that discipline has fallen apart, they were on the road to hell, frankly.” Writer Michael Bilton 22:30 minute mark, The Vietnam War - My Lai Massacre Youtube DocumentaryFR3AKI highly recommend this video with the strange name. They seem to be fair, complete, and describe a chance situation with an already broken army group, a disaster just waiting to happen. For a more positive part, see the 40 minute mark, about Hugh Thompson’s effort to save victims.25 minute mark: “The brigade commander, a man named Orin Henderson, wanted his battalions to be much more aggressive with the enemy. And it is fair to say Henderson wound up Medina and Medina wound up Charlie Company.”And Medina, I believe believed he was very clear that they were facing the [crack] VC 48 Infantry Battalion ... but the intelligence was wrong [to up against the VC, which were Writer Michael BiltonAlso see “We assumed we were going to hit VC only, that the civilians would be gone from that village. [then people came out of their house] Wait a minute, they are not supposed to be here. At first, nobody did anything. Then a couple crazy guys said ‘Hey, they must be VC. Some of the [other] guys started shooting… Once the first civilian was killed, it was too late. Period. Whoever killed the first civilian, that was the end of the situation, it went out of control. It was shoot, shoot, shoot at anything.” 2 infantrymen and the photographer, starting at 30 minute mark. Very depressing, but important for context. Many were inside bunkers, which is more understandable from the soldiers’ standpoint as they could have been anyone (like in Okinawa 1945).This just in from the Time Life series on Vietnam (a usually leftist source, but still with some good information parts).Pg. 160 Time Life The Vietnam Experience/Collision of Cultures:Charlie Company was “better than average in infantry aptitude” although 10% had flunked the army’s basic intelligence test. At first the men were shocked with other outfits, like when seeing a troop carrier drive by with about twenty ears tied to the antenna. Yet soon Medina was happy with his first group kill.The Company incidents began, first an old man pleading for the return of his possessions, then shot and killed; a group of men stopped as they tried to hang a villager, and finally a woman raped in front of her child — both subsequently killed. So well before My Lie a pattern was of a balloon flopping in the breeze waiting for a nearby pin to pop it, and the responsible top officers not realizing the predicament.So we come to Medina and Calley. “Medina’s aggressive pursuit of higher body counts and indifference towards civilians was mated with a developing Company “hatred for the Vietnamese … treated like animals … ‘A lot of the guys didn’t feel that they were human beings.’”“The poor quality of the officers in charge of his platoons… particularly true of Lt. Calley, whose indecisiveness and chronic inability to follow instructions earned him Medina’s constant criticism, and whose own defense attorneys argued during his trial that he would never had become an officer if the army had maintained its normal standards of selection.”“I know the perfect answer.”, Calley could be imagined to say, “Kill everyone we see, and then Medina will be satisfied.” Add in a garbled radio message, plus the inability to follow instructions, and we have almost all of the My Lie incident massacre explained. You have to understand, the man was literally washing dishes for a living only days before receiving his draft notice.From what I have read elsewhere, this is a fair enough concentrated explanation of what happened and why. Under trial, Calley moved off to a new direction, to a modest degree that of an anti war peacenik, probably to garner support to save his skin, perhaps under advisement of his defense lawyers. IIRC they were typically very educated commissioned officer draftees straight from law school, chaffing at their own army time. Think of M*A*S*H Hawkeye Pierce.Note Thomas K. Willingham’s Thon Co Luy little more than a mile away from Calley’s doings. I have read two accounts about the Lt., in that he was killed a month later, and here https://www.quora.com/unanswered/How-did-the-United-States-government-attempt-to-cover-up-the-My-Lai-Massacre/comment/7304974 photos of him a year later fighting a charge. It does seem none of his group have given any interviews.Four Hours in My Lai (again cited) has more detailed analysis. That is evidence which can be made, since the charges were dropped and 8 (7?) of the company refused to testify, presumably the ones involved in the 90 (sic) deaths in that sector. To this day we do not have any information of those men, Willingham’s point men keeping their silence to the grave apparently.https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/05/archives/a-2d-massacre-involving-90-civilians-described-in-the-armys-secret.htmlThis URL also mentions that Calley, Brooks, LaCross and 1st Lt. Thomas K. Willingham (the murky My Khe massacre of about 70 people two kilometers from Calley), the platoon officers, were neither comfortable nor confident in disciplining their men. In short, a recipe for disaster. We can trace all of this to Westmoreland’s convincing LBJ that we could surge our way past the NVA and VC to victory with badly trained troops, which were in the best of shape just 2 or 3 years before (1965–1966).Willingham’s Bravo Company, as opposed to Calley’s Charlie CompanyIn just about all counts, the general strategy was a total, massive failure, which My Lai was a significant part of that. With an other war, maybe it would have all muddled through, but in the Vietnam War the American politicians probably did not know who was running North Vietnam, to what extent they would go, enough significant flaws to exploit for likely traction, and the US’s own limitations. The risk of failure was considerably higher than it should of, could have been, nor was a proper assessment made. Eisenhower made the assessment in 1954, correctly understanding all those above parts concerning Vietnam and nixing US intervention.24:00 minute mark, I think:Admittedly the US/Western world was also unaware that the Pathet Lao - Wikipedia was headed by Kaysone Phomvihane - Wikipedia rather than the Red Prince Souphanouvong - Wikipedia, as was believed until about 1986.And finally, no, there was more to it than only Calley. Case and point was the mysteriously hidden ‘My Khe’ as mentioned above, where about 70 people are believed to have been killed about two kilometers away, within minutes or during the exact same time of My Lai, by a sister company.Still, Calley needs the lion share of the blame, IMO, as we do not know the details and the death toll was more in keeping of a lower incident. I do not believe the higher up knew that was in the cards, meaning negligence rather than willful. Calley was the weakest link.Medina should have been convicted, too, and at least served a couple years in prison at hard labor for gross negligence. Calley was neither the ‘fall guy’ (despite the peace people’s intention to make him so), nor the whole picture, but merely the weakest link, and willful at that. In the eyes of the law, that is the differentiation between said crimes. And Calley was let off in the end due to checking-under-cushions-for-change politics of a waning war, a far cry from what went in to the breach during 1965.Gallup Finds 79% Disapprove of Verdict (Published 1971) (Immediately after the verdict, both on the right and left wanted Calley freed, which was unheard of in such polarized times; there is even a cartoon of a hippie and a construction worker holding up signs of such and improbably meeting gape mouthed.)https://www.quora.com/What-happened-during-the-Vietnam-War-that-nobody-talks-about-today/answer/Carey-Sublette/comment/77450078And finally, to be fair, here is a video excerpt from the man who broke the My Lai story, Seymour Hersh. While I respect his investigation skills, his beliefs are, well, often interesting. For example, he as off the cuff said that Obama is ‘probably the most competent president we will have for the next fifty years’ (in the 2016 interview by Tariq Ali). However, listen if you wish of the My Lai issue unfolding , and endure the Canadian interviewer Steve Paikin’s apparent smirk:For those of you who have had personal experience in Vietnam, or have friends and family who did, the intent was to examine what happened and why. My Lai on the scale was a unique event, though smaller individual issues happened. In a larger scope, the whole war was generally terrible for the inhabitants and other participants as far as I can see.I was too young for a strong impression. My next door neighbor was drafted and served a year or so before meeting him, as a doctor, and was in the rear areas. So my world was very distant. To many who fought in the American forces, it was a noble cause. It may have had religious (50% of the US troops were Catholic) or regional (enlisted were generally from poorer families, many from the South) issues. I do not know. It is a complicated topic.——————————————————————————————This has been a work in progress for myself as well. I tend to be right wing, not expecting absolutes in complicated issues, but this has gone beyond the pale. Originally I accepted that it was Calley, with a sideline of regular bureaucratic issues, much as happened in, say, the North West Frontier of India 1800’s to 1947 (Bugles and Tigers).More than I am comfortable with, the massacre showed some deeper issues than just Calley, though hardly just another cog in the chain. No one expects perfection in wartime, but some things were just not right (as happened in other wars, to a large degree). Some units go bad, some people went bad, including top and middle officers. War is hell, while that does not make this incident any easier. The 1st Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia, a formerly well famed unit, was returned to the US due to My Lai, as recalled.See also Benjamin Butler - Wikipedia who advertised on posters for loose women for the troops in New Orleans during the Civil War “No California Widows need apply”.Or the twenty men who got the Medal of Honor for the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre - Wikipedia, apparently for very little. Or the Medal of Honor winner Leonard Wood - Wikipedia (about 1900 the standards were vastly upgraded and many were taken back, but not these ones) was apparently not in the rape of Geronimo band’s women, including his wives, but associated with those who did.Hopefully few of these Medal of Honor winners were responsible for the rapes and killing of women and children, of which there were well over two hundred in Wounded Knee alone. Custer took a 13 year old girl after killing or driving off the men in battle, muscling out the other officers who did the same with lesser prizes . It was sort of consensual statutory rape, she got teased about it for the rest of her life by her tribe, and Custer’s wife put a stop to it after a while when she found out. So there were roots long ago in Army tradition.Just trying to keep perspective. I’ll post more about the last paragraph as is found in the book About Face, of David Hackworth - Wikipedia’s couple of pages on My Lai. He points out this Vietnam incident was not the norm by any means.