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#1 In 1967, members of Company B, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, were sent into the village of Trieu Ai in Quang Tri, northernmost South Vietnam. They were told to kill everyone in the village and burn it down.

#2 The U. S. military was designed to strip recruits of their previous learning and experiences, and replace them with a military mindset. This was done through frequent punishments, which were crucial to the process.

#3 The American government's official stance was that all Vietnamese were to be distrusted, but many soldiers were taught that the enemy was anything with slant eyes who lived in a village.

#4 The laws of war are very complicated, and many soldiers, especially those who were not given specialized training regarding the added responsibilities and moral complexities of fighting a guerrilla war in villages filled with civilians, had little understanding of them.