I think of Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket when he said, "Better you than me."

One of the elements of psychological stripping in bootcamp is to blindly follow orders from superiors (the stipulations not to follow unlawful orders largely ignored) and the extent that group approval comes into play.

It's an essential part of the mindfuck in conditioning people to kill strangers when told to by the state, regardless of the claims for the rationale.

I feel it takes quite a bit of individual and moral courage to buck that indoctrination.

there's no excuse for killing old ppl, women & children.
the little asshole that led the massacre was a psychopath & most of the troops that participated were low-life losers from the dregs of society.
Thompson was a true hero & should have been recognized as such at the time. instead the slimy bastards vilified him.

Wars create conditions for people to do terrible things they would never do had they not gone to war