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Casualties of War

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This book appears in its entirety in Volume One of the Library of America's "Reporting Vietnam 1957-1969" published 1998.

New York Times writer Daniel Laing's chronicle of one young soldier's helplessness in the face of appalling evil. The rape, torture and murder of 20 year old Vietnamese peasant Phi Than Mao in the Highlands of Vietnam by the other four members of his patrol, all of whom for reasons of confidentiality are changed (along with the protagonists, who is given the unlikely name "Sven Errikson") is a war crime that even with the Mai Lai massacre and the depraved behavior of some US soldiers in Afghanistan as revealed by the recent WikiLeaks, defies comprehension.

This story was given a pretty good treatment by Brian DePalma in the 1989 film Casualties of War (Unrated Extended Cut). The real story, of course, is infinitely more complex and gruesome.

The leader of Errikson's patrol and instigator of the crime, 20 year old Sergeant Tony Meserve, was a decorated soldier who had only 30 days left in Vietnam. From Brooklyn NY, his behavior around the time of the atrocity (November 18, 1966), was characterized by other soldiers as "erratic". He would fire at Vietnamese civilians sometimes simply because "he felt like it". Ralph Clark, whose behavior reads like that of a textbook psychopath, not a "war traumatized soldier", was from Philadelphia. The other two, brothers Rafe and Manuel and Diaz, were from San Diego. They seemed "affable" but quick to bow under Meserve's commands.

Before leaving for a patrol which was characterized by African American lieutenant Reilly as "high risk", Meserve related to the rest of the patrol that it would be "good for the morale of the squad" if they "picked up a girl for some boom boom." They would carry her around, rape her, then kill her when she became inconvient. Which is exactly what they did despite Errikson's attempts to stop it.
Trapped in a sweaty jungle with four other men who had signed a pact with the devil and numbed their conscience, he was told repeatedly that if he did not participate in the rape, he might become a "friendly casualty" and end up coming home in a bodybag. Though he was unable to save Mao's life--I'm not sure how he could have--he immediately went to the authorities upon his return to base.

He was dissuaded in every fashion imaginable from going public with the knowledge. Two attempts on his life were made by friends of the other four. The military pulled every trick in the book, offering him any position he wanted, even a discharge, until Errikson finally told Lieutenant Reilly that he wanted to be a door gunner, was not going anywhere and was not shutting his mouth.

What's even more horrifying than the murder was the result of this man's valor and honesty. When the four were finally court martialed, the defense questioned Errikson's sexuality, brought up the possibility that Mao was indeed a "VC sympathizer", and let him know very bluntly that military tribunals were notoriously lenient and that he might want to think about his wife at home. Sent to Fort Leavenworth as a penalty, all four of these men were released at a fraction of their stated sentences. Great for Errikson and his then newborn daughter.

Though this book is about an incident in Vietnam things have changed very little. Soldiers who are honest are afraid to stand up to the "boy's club", and incidents like this are actually innumerable in the lost war of Afghanistan. Read this and understand what it means to sneer at ideas like world peace. Recommended for anyone who wants to understand conscience, what war does to men, and how the "military tribunal system" for war criminals actually works.

Truth was called the first casualty of war way back in 1918, but there are of course other casualties as well also dealt with in this real-life account of one U.S. soldier's experience confronting rape and silence in Vietnam.

A short book, "Casualties Of War" was first published in 1969 as a New Yorker magazine article. Sadly, it was never updated by author Daniel Lang to account for the fate of the whistleblower, whom Lang renames "Sven Eriksson" and describes as a carpenter from Minnesota in civilian life. One reads this book, quickly, wishing to know of his final fate as well as that of the four men on his U.S. Army patrol he saw put in jail for their part in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao in November, 1966. Eriksson was the only member of his patrol not to take part in the crimes, which took some guts in itself. After he did testify, he found himself repeatedly questioned about why he made trouble for his brothers-in-arms.

"One M.P., I remember, told me he could have understood it if I had gone to bat for a G.I. who was murdered, but how could I do it for a Vietnamese?" Lang records Eriksson recalling. "But he was very tolerant about it. He said it was only human to make mistakes."

That war creates monsters is a theme of this book, but "Casualties Of War" is as much a cautionary tale of peer pressure and groupthink. In fact, the war machine does eventually pause to take stock of the crime, and attempt to punish the wrongdoers. It's the way those wrongdoers are so gingerly handled that causes grief. One, Corporal Clark, is described as a kind of psychotic cheerleader for the murder, a clear Section 8 case. The group leader, Sergeant Meserve, is admired for his skill on the battlefield but episodes of casual cruelty speak to a darker side not kept in check by his superiors. The last two soldiers on the fatal patrol are not made of the same hard stuff, but don't want to upset Meserve or Clark so play along.

Ericksson doesn't spare himself in Lang's account. He wonders forlornly if he could have done more to save Mao. Lang notes how he struggled at times with court officers defending the other soldiers at their courts-martial, who questioned Ericksson's desire to serve and even his failure to abandon his comrades and take the by-now ill and traumatized girl home. Their questions, and Ericksson's halting answers, makes for a much more vivid and disturbing reading experience.

Lang writes with a curious detachment, perhaps residual from the court records he went through while researching his story. Of course, some of this is effective when relating the rape and killing, as it denotes veracity. But once away from the killing, wrestling with his thoughts in the company of a pair of friendly Mormons who help him find justice, Ericksson doesn't come alive in any big way. Lang notes that Ericksson was in general a quiet man, and perhaps this was a reason for the cold tone that predominates. (The Brian DePalma movie from 1989 pushes against this in a slightly suspect way by creating later confrontations between Ericksson, Meserve, and the others. The reality was less spectacular, and more interesting.)

My biggest problem with the book was that I wish it went on longer, testament to its minor but enduring greatness. Death happens in war, but when it happens like this it is hard to accept the idea of justice deferred, or delayed. "Casualties Of War" addresses both the challenge of seeing to such justice and the lingering question of whether or not it was really worth it.

The book Casualities of War was a good book, I would say the book would be read by 15 year olds and up because there are some tough words. I gave the book 4 stars because it was alittle boring at times but it was also really good when they got in the action parts.

-East Detroit reader

Not all the terrible incidents of war occur between opposing soldiers and armies. If that were the case, perhaps war could even be looked at as somewhat civilized. However, most atrocities fall upon innocent victims. Rape and murder, the destruction of homes and livelihoods, dislocation, all fall on the shoulders of those who would most likely wish that the war quietly passed them by.

Aside from the victims on the receiving end of heinous atrocities, we must also consider the scared psyche and irreparable lives of those caught up in the insanity of war and commit said atrocities.

For example, the main culprit in Casualties was barley twenty-years old, and he was saddled with responsibilities that are meant to be held by gods. He decided who lived and who died. It was his duty to preserve the lives of his men, while extinguishing the lives of this "enemies." This power is almost beyond the realm of human comprehension, let alone the young mind of a man-child. Who among us can claim to be certain that after witnessing numerous deaths, usually occurring in the most horrific fashion, that we wouldn't react in much the same way?

War is a horrible and unpredictable beast. And once unleashed, this beast will wreak unspeakable, and reprehensible damage. This damage will forever scar the world in which we live. Not only will the lives, land, and economic aspects die, but also society dies every time war is waged. And eventually society itself will die.

This is the lesson we can gather from Lang's provocative book. We learn that the casualties of war are not always left on the battlefield, but continue for as long as war exists.

This story really gives it to you about the monstrous things in the Vietnam War. There is insight given to how soldiers are trained to kill or be killed. The government decides, as often it does, what lives will or won't be spared, and what is considered fair and just. However, the evils committed by soldiers may be understandable - but they are not excusable. Women and children in small villages were not enemies of the Vietnam War, and should not have been treated as such. Understanding feelings and acting on them are two different things. Soldiers who target women and children are cowards with hatred in their hearts and they are not heroes. Those men who participated in the rape and murder knew they were wrong but they didn't care any more than the US government did. Those men should have been sentenced to life and gang-raped for what they did.