4 - The Black Vault

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THE BDM CORPORATION
a VC."42/ Again illusion is mu-e compelling than actuality.--In
different men ard in different degrees, the
illusion is sustained by genuine self-deception, conscious
lying, or, probably most common, a kind of "middle
knowledge" within which one both knows the truth about
body counts (the reason for the disparity between bodies and
weapons) and does not know--resists knowing--that truth.
But the imaqe--of women and children picking up the weapons
of dead VC also contains still another informal message
that killing womem and children was, therefore, "okay."
The body count illusion tnus carriss its logic full
circle--the falsification of the evidence that civilians
were being killed leading in turn to a further reason--
and motivation--for killing still more civilians. All
this happens because so much rides on the body cc'unt:
the conquest of death anxiety, one's sense of skill,
worth, and manhooa--and for man, one's future as a
professional soldier and long-range claim to the immortalizing
status of warrior-hero.
The official body count that day for Task Force Barker
(of which Charlie Company was a part*, operating in aod
around My Lai, was "128 Vietcong." Nobody seemed certain
just how that number was arrived at , but a discussion
Calley recalled, in his testimony at his trial, between
himself and Medina gives us something of a clue:
Calley: He asked me ,bout how many--iasically what my
body count--how many people we had killed that day. And
I told him I had no idea and for him to just go on and
come up with an estimate, sir.
Daniel (prosecuting attorney): Just any body count?
Just any nody count, is that what you are saying?
Calley:
Brsically, yes sir.
101. As noted abcve, one veteran air force pilot recalls, "They made sure
everyone pretty well got a meljl....,n iny ubit. . it was a Distinguished
Flying ".(ass." VVAW, Winter Soldier, p. 348.
The SSI report quotes one chaplair as saying "The Army passod out favor
to shore up morale." This, t.-iy continue, meant that the awards lost
meaning. This in turn, hurt both morale and discipline. (p. 7).
Linden observes, "We will do som~thi ig abhorrent and then characterize
it as an act of valor and the soldier who received a medal for his act
will later throw it away as vorthless: There are no anchors or fixed
points by which the soldier can judgE hi. behavio- and measure degrees
of rightdeing or wrongdoing; consequently, itandards oecnme meaningless."
"Fragging," 3aturday Review, p. 55.
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