so they could harass him with questions like "How many babies did you kill today?" (Winthrop, 861-865). As if the war itself wasn't traumatic enough, these extra influences make the event of mental damage very possible. These issues raise the question as to whether they are simply excuses for the terrible actions such as the one at My Lai, or were the happenings such of My Lai the result of these influences. Or is it possible that the My Lai Massacre occurred for a totally different, perhaps from the anger and frustration of one man given too much power?William L. Calley Jr., born 1944, grew up in Miami Florida. He attended grammar and high school there, and in 1963 flunked out of college after earning four F's. He became very uptight, and began smoking up to four packs of cigarettes a day. After leaving college, Calley became a switchman for the East Coast Railway. In 1964 he made local headlines when he was arrested for allowing a forty-seven car freight train to block rush-hour traffic for thirty minutes.. In 1965, Calley left Florida and eventually enlisted in the Army in 1966. In spite of poor academic performance, Calley joined Officers' Training School at Ft. Benning, GA and graduated without even learning to read a map. In 1967 Calley became the platoon leader for Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Captain Ernest Medina, the company's commanding officer, was a large, powerfully built man who was certainly respected, respect that he earned rather than demanded. Lt. Calley was described as being boyish-looking. He was a mere five feet-three inches tall, and seemed jealous of the respect the soldiers had for Medina (Hersh, 19). Troops under Calley said "he was always trying to be the big man; always would be the one to beat them [Vietnamese] up. He didn't know what was going on half the time."(Hersh, 20) Calley, unlike Medina, placed high emphasis on respect towards himself; respect he simply demanded and wasn't willing ...
