Posted on Feb 26, 2024
Why American Soldiers Killed Their Own Officers in Vietnam War
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Posted in these groups: 
Vietnam War
Military History
Vietnam War Military History
Posted 3 mo ago
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Heard of this but never experienced it... Always thought there was a little bit of Media Sensationalization going on... Which is also very evident in the posting on "Why American Soldiers Killed Their Own Officers in Vietnam". It focuses a lot on William Calley, a United States Army officer who was convicted by court-martial for the murder of 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mai Lai massacre. Doesn't fit the posting title but it was sensational!
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Lots of "estimates" were put out as fact, however, there's no official count of fragging deaths; one unofficial source says 86, another 45.
The Center of Military History has a two-page report entitled "Murder of U.S. Army Company Grade Officers in Vietnam by Enlisted Men," apparently written in response to claims that 40 percent of captains and lieutenants killed in Vietnam were murdered by their men. Not likely, says the report. About 3,000 such officers died during the war; 40 percent of that number is about 1,200; no way would slaughter on that scale have escaped official notice.
Two articles on fragging, "Assaults with Explosive Devices on Superiors" by David Gillooly and Thomas Bond (Military Medicine, 1976) and Bonds "The Why of Fragging" (American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976), were based on analysis of 28 convicted fraggers. If you are looking for a reason, look at the eight data points: (1) 80 percent of the murders happened at base camps, not in the field; (2) 90 percent of assaults took place within three days after an argument; (3) offenders typically felt they had been unfairly treated; (4) 88 percent of attackers were drunk or high; (5) on average they'd been in Vietnam for six months; (6) 26 of 28 were volunteers, not draftees; (7) only five were high school grads; and (8) many were loners or had psychological problems.
In short, for all the tales of soldiers assaulting officers they feared would get them killed, a more likely explanation is that fragging was the work of rear-echelon misfits with anger management and substance issues who sulked after getting chewed out and decided to have revenge.
The Center of Military History has a two-page report entitled "Murder of U.S. Army Company Grade Officers in Vietnam by Enlisted Men," apparently written in response to claims that 40 percent of captains and lieutenants killed in Vietnam were murdered by their men. Not likely, says the report. About 3,000 such officers died during the war; 40 percent of that number is about 1,200; no way would slaughter on that scale have escaped official notice.
Two articles on fragging, "Assaults with Explosive Devices on Superiors" by David Gillooly and Thomas Bond (Military Medicine, 1976) and Bonds "The Why of Fragging" (American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976), were based on analysis of 28 convicted fraggers. If you are looking for a reason, look at the eight data points: (1) 80 percent of the murders happened at base camps, not in the field; (2) 90 percent of assaults took place within three days after an argument; (3) offenders typically felt they had been unfairly treated; (4) 88 percent of attackers were drunk or high; (5) on average they'd been in Vietnam for six months; (6) 26 of 28 were volunteers, not draftees; (7) only five were high school grads; and (8) many were loners or had psychological problems.
In short, for all the tales of soldiers assaulting officers they feared would get them killed, a more likely explanation is that fragging was the work of rear-echelon misfits with anger management and substance issues who sulked after getting chewed out and decided to have revenge.
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