Four hours in my lai - Essay Example

This is because the U.S military taking refuge in one of the Vietnamese villages was waiting for an encounter that would allow them to use their trainings and protection mechanism for the war. However, this opportunity did not come easily thus, they decided to try the attack towards Vietnamese groups. My Lai Massacre happened in the morning of March 16, 1968 which was one of the bloodiest and vicious mass killings in history(Michael & Kevin,102). This Massacre was characterized by the killing spree done in the hamlets in South Vietnam by the U.S. military troupes by the use of bombs and blasting that killed not only men and women, but also innocent children and even animals (Bilton & Sim, 1992).

The massacre death toll reached approximately 500 plus people. Though the massacre called for attention, the soldiers involved in the massacre, 26 of them to be exact, one of whom is Lt. William Calley has managed to reduce the buzz from the eventful date. However, during the fall of the year 1969, media was able to open the eyes of the world and bring them to the real tragedy and demonstration of abuse of power by the U.S. military in the My Lai massacre that led to the imprisonment of those involved.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer spearheaded in breaking the story to the public where an army photographer from Cleveland, Ronald Haeberle has exposed photographs of the massacre and granted a newspaper firm an exclusive interview of himself . This gave the public an unbiased view of what really happened in the My Lai Massacre. The media has played a big role in giving the world a clear view of the Vietnam massacre. Because of media, I strongly believe that the My Lai Massacre freed itself from the preconceived thoughts of the world being a massacre that had to do with the political and economic insurgency in Vietnam at that time against communism and their leaders (Bilton & Sim, 1992).

Instead, this war also highlighted on the American military whose unlawful command needed some rethinking and how the American military’s actions strongly shaped Vietnamese history and culture today. The Massacre was indeed not only a big event in Vietnamese history but is still continuing to remind people of the massacre’s remnants because of its short and long term effects. Some of the short term effects of the war would include the stricter guidelines and qualifications set for military volunteers who wish to serve in leadership troops.

This was due to lack of in-depth knowledge on making decisions on critical matters that led to the My Lai massacre. Apart from which, there was also a drop in the number of applicants who would want to train for military service through college attendance or homeland service because the Vietnam war drew a bad light on the hopes of producing well-trained and experienced career soldiers who would be put in the front lines. On the other hand, some of the long-term effects of the My Lai Massacre would be the change in the culture of military training.

As the massacre pointed out the problems with the old military culture wherein the insistence of compulsory obedience is required and the doctrine of “command responsibility” to the lowest ranks is strictly followed, today, the military command landscape drastically changed (Bilton & Sim, 19