William Brown Papers

Author : William R. Brown
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (636 download)

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Download or read book William R. Brown Papers written by William R. Brown and published by . This book was released on 19?? with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General description of the collection: The William R. Brown papers include a completed Vietnam War Veterans Survey questionnaire in which Brown describes his experiences in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969. Brown describes the inadequacies of his training in the U.S., an opinion that was reinforced by his platoon upon his arrival in Vietnam. He describes his duties in combat in support of infantry companies on patrol, and says that he suffered a constant case of "the nerves" while in combat. Brown credits the leadership of veteran Non-Commissioned Officers for leading the men and maintaining military discipline. He says that "military justice did not exist back in the 1960's," and uses the My Lai incident as an example. Brown compares the conviction of Lieutenant William Calley, whom Brown had worked with, to the fate of Lynndie England for the incidents at the Abu Gharib Prison. Brown gives his positive opinion of the Vietnamese peasantry whom he found to be industrious. He disliked the questioning methods of U.S. Psychological Operations teams and of the South Vietnamese National Police (White Mice), and states his belief that their methods would create more Viet Cong supporters. Brown also describes the undercurrent of racism in his unit, the lack of information about the war, and how he learned not to volunteer for any duty. He recommends studying the Vietnam War from many viewpoints in order to gain understanding of what happened. Brown describes his bitterness towards the "leaders in Washington" and the international politics that abandoned the South Vietnamese, and believes that the U.S. hasn't learned from its experience in Vietnam.