i think mike is referring to you as a troll.
see here
http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Troll
not that i am saying you are one…
least my points dont BORE people
there short and staight 2 the point
no harm done
Good to see the Arrsepedia is taking over the world 
Some military observers concluded that My Lai showed the need for more and better volunteers to provide stronger leadership for the troops. As the Vietnam conflict dragged on, the number of well trained and experienced career soldiers on the front lines dropped sharply as casualties and combat rotation took their toll. These observers claimed the absence of the many bright young men who avoided military service through college attendance or homeland service caused the talent pool for new officers to become very shallow.[35] They pointed to Calley, a young, unemployed college dropout, as an example of the raw and inexperienced recruits being rushed through officer training. Others pointed out problems with the military’s insistence on unconditional obedience to orders while at the same time limiting the doctrine of “command responsibility” to the lowest ranks. Others saw My Lai and related war crimes as a direct result of the military’s attrition strategy, with its emphasis on “body counts” and “kill ratios”. The fact that the massacre was successfully covered up for 18 months was seen as a prime example of the Pentagon’s “Culture of Concealment” and of the lack of integrity that permeated the Defense establishment. And the fact that Calley was the only officer convicted led many to see him as a scapegoat.
Adrian,
Mentioned in MiLai massacre Wykipedia (body counts,kill ratios)
He should have been executed. But Calley spent more than two days in the brig…
P.S. Captain Medina should have been shot too!
For most of the Southerners fighting for the Confederacy, fighting for slavery would be tantamount for the average high school kid fighting in Iraq for “the oil companies.” Slavery only benefited a small percentage of the Southern population. The “poor, bloody infantry” of the Confederate Army came from the white underclass of sharecroppers who couldn’t dream of owning slaves…
It should be noted that although My Lai was, and is, one of the darkest chapters in US military history, it in a sense is also somewhat the brightest. Because, as the US infantry were shooting down the 400 or so residents of the hamlet, a cavalry troop of Huey choppers came in and witnessing the massacre, threatened to open fire ON THEIR OWN soldiers if they continued murdering the villagers…
It was indeed covered up, with Gen. Colin Powell mentioned as one of the culprits repressing the news of the massacre, the atrocity was stopped by the very same army conducting it. This illustrating the very conflict taking place within American society over the policies in Vietnam, but something unprecedented when compared to the atrocities conducted in say, the Soviet Union during the German invasion…
Thanx Nick for that, like I always have been curious about Colin Powell’s involvement with Americal, I don’t like the guy and have never trusted him but I had to give him the benefit of the doubt that he might have been railroaded in to Americal, on the basis that whilst it had been a prestige operation during World War 2, in Vietnam Americal had gone to the dogs and given the level of racism in America at the time it might have been a useful way of mucking up his career by getting him posted to a division that was going to get itself in to trouble sooner or later. But after what you say, it seems to me Colin Powell found his own level, in that Calley was not in a position to hold a gun to Colin Powel’s head to force him to try to cover up the atrocity.
Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer
i recall that in nam. the helicopters landed in between the citizens and the evil soldiers.
Your typing skills say otherwise about your claimed age of twenty six.
Here it is. Almost as I said. See the bold part below.
An OKW Directives For The Treatment Of Soviet Prisoners Of War.
The directive was issued by Wilhelm Canaris for Wilhelm Keitel, and was prepared by Graf von Moltke.
Berlin, 15 September 1941
Amt Ausl/Abw. Nr. 9731/41 geh. Chef Ausl. F XIV, E 1.
Secret
To be submitted to the Chief of OKW
Notes of Speech.
REFERENCE: 2 f 24.11 AWA / Kriegsgef. (I) Nr. 3058,41 secret
To be submitted to the Chief of AWAI. 1. The legal position is as follows:
The Geneva Convention for the treatment of Prisoners of war is not [“not” is underlined in purple pencil] binding in the relationship between Germany and the USSR, therefore only the principles of general international law on the treatment of prisoners of war apply. Since the 18th century these have gradually been established along the lines that war captivity is neither revenge nor punishment, but solely protective custody [Sicherheitshaft] the only purpose of which is to prevent the prisoners of war from a further participation in the war. This principle was developed in accordance with the view held by all armies that it is contrary to military tradition to kill or injure helpless people; this is also in the interest of all belligerents in order to prevent mistreatment of their own soldiers in case of capture.
- The decrees for the treatment of Soviet Prisoners of War enclosed as supplement No. 1 are based on a fundamentally different view point, as is shown in the opening phrases. According to this view point military service for the Soviets is not considered military duty but, because of the murders committed by the Russians, is characterized in its totality as a crime. Hence the validity of international legal standards in wartime is denied in the war against Bolshevism. Furthermore much is set aside which, according to previous experience has proved itself not only as militarily useful but was also considered absolutely essential for the maintenance of discipline and efficiency of the own troops.
…
And an other relevant one:
source: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1519-ps.asp
Bolshevism is the deadly enemy of Nazi Germany. For the first time, the German soldier is encountering not only a military opponent, but one, at the same time, steeped in the ideas of Bolshevism so pernicious to the people. The fight against National-Socialism has become part of his system. He conducts it by every means in his power: Sabotage, seditious propaganda, incendiarism, murder. The bolshevist soldier has therefore lost all claim to treatment as an honourable opponent in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
It is therefore in keeping with the respect and honour of the German Armed Forces, that every German soldier should hold himself severely aloof when dealing with Soviet prisoners of war. Treatment must be cool but correct. Any indulgence or even friendly disposition is to be punished very severely. The feeling of pride and superiority of the German soldier ordered to guard Soviet PWs, must at all times be visible even in public.