Chief Phillips decided to perform a routine search of a Vietnamese boat on the river to check if they were running weapons for the Vietcong or NVA. Chef boarded the boat to hand search the materials on board. His complete lack of respect for these people could be seen instantaneously as he began pushing and throwing these men and woman around the boat. While this was happening Clean was operating one of the boats’ guns to ensure their safety. He began taunting their fear and calling them “slopes”. This culminated when the women on the boat moved toward Chef to stop him from looking in a container. Clean opened fired, killing everyone on board the boat. Racism, as well as irresponsibility and fear as Samuel Hynes would put it, is what would allow such an atrocity to happen. Soldier’s were “unused to taking responsibility or making moral decisions [and then] dropped into an alien and fearful place” (Hynes, pg. 184). The fact that Clean viewed these people more as animals than humans, combined with his immaturity and fear as a seventeen year old, made it easier for him to open fire and kill everyone over what ended up being a hidden
Chief Phillips decided to perform a routine search of a Vietnamese boat on the river to check if they were running weapons for the Vietcong or NVA. Chef boarded the boat to hand search the materials on board. His complete lack of respect for these people could be seen instantaneously as he began pushing and throwing these men and woman around the boat. While this was happening Clean was operating one of the boats’ guns to ensure their safety. He began taunting their fear and calling them “slopes”. This culminated when the women on the boat moved toward Chef to stop him from looking in a container. Clean opened fired, killing everyone on board the boat. Racism, as well as irresponsibility and fear as Samuel Hynes would put it, is what would allow such an atrocity to happen. Soldier’s were “unused to taking responsibility or making moral decisions [and then] dropped into an alien and fearful place” (Hynes, pg. 184). The fact that Clean viewed these people more as animals than humans, combined with his immaturity and fear as a seventeen year old, made it easier for him to open fire and kill everyone over what ended up being a hidden