PM... I have 4 relatives who served in Vietnam. They lived through cases where children would literally walk up to them, and explode (bombs on their backs) ... other times they would start firing automatic weapons.

Enemy Soldiers there learned to dress in civilian clothes to fool our guys, who WERE abiding by the Geneva convention. These "soldiers" would then open fire on our troops. Same thing would happen with women...

So our guys defended themselves. And yes, that IS excusable.

Here is a fact... no military in HISTORY has EVER used a higher standard of protecting innocent civilians on the "other side" than have we.

Also... in Vietnam, you never read about the millions of man-hours spent by volunteers to run hospitals, care for children... etc... These volunteers were off duty soldiers...