ABSTRACT
Michael Clodfelter is a Vietnam veteran. He is also a historian and author of many books. In Mad Minutes and Vietnam Months Clodfelter describes his reaction to viewing the bodies of two Vietnamese soldiers: “Both wore ironic expressions of contentment on their young faces. Though caking, scarlet pockets of bullet wounds and vacantly staring eyes were the only indications that these men were dead instead of dreaming, they already seemed somehow less human to me.” He writes that “Violent death still brought grief when a friend fell, but the death of a Vietnamese, any Vietnamese, not just the enemy, was looked upon with no more pity than a hunter gives his prey . . .” Clodfelter understood the psychological implications of war. He concludes that “War was working insane logic on us. We were learning to deny the enemy’s humanity, and because it was so difficult to distinguish the enemy from those who merely hated us, it had become easier to kill both.”1
