Why did fragging happen during the Vietnam war?

Question

Is this the reason?.....Between 1969 and 1971, the Army reported 600 fragging incidents that killed 82 Americans and injured 651. In 1971 alone, there were 1.8 fraggings for every 1,000 American soldiers serving in Vietnam, not including gun and knife assaults.

"These people knew the war was pretty much lost, that they were going to be sacrificed," said Texas A&M University history professor and Vietnam veteran Terry Anderson. "They just wanted to get out of Vietnam."

After the 1968 Tet offensive, enlisted troops in Vietnam increasingly felt their lives were being placed at risk for a losing cause...

Answer 1

A lot of the draftees did not want to fight at all. If their officer was killed they might not have to go on patrol until the got a new one, or the sergeant that took over might just have them walk out into the jungle and hide out for a while.

Answer 2

Fragging In Vietnam

Answer 3

There are many good suggestions posted on the WEB about this. Some answer the question very accurate. But for me and the many E-4's and E-5's that were in our tent in Can Tho (1971-1099th TC Medium Boat) there isn't an answer! After I returned from the hospital one of the fellow soldiers stated the culprit was a soldier either coming off guard duty or going on guard duty and "was high on drugs"! I have no angry thoughts against this soldier, but I do have questions why the army had problems listing these events in our medical records. A lot of DA Form 1 where lost or not done & a lot of medical records where not forwarded to the company HQ's and put in soldier records. The only proof I have is my x-rays of the injury.

Answer 4

It may have happened in some isolated incidents, but in all likelihood was not commonplace. There are a lot of rumor driven so-called "truths" from the Vietnam War, this among them. For instance, did you know that WWII had a significantly higher percentage of draftees in service than during the Vietnam War? The media has successfully painted the Vietnam experience as wholly negative. One would believe that any veteran was a drug using war criminal if their knowledge was limited to popular movies made about the subject. The incident one of the other posters is referring to during OIF is that of Hasan Akbar. That did in fact happen (see link). The best way to find the answer to this question would be to send a Freedom of Information Act request to the Army Crime Records center (2nd link) and ask that same question. It's hard for me to predict what the results of that request would be, but I would assume you may find a few isolated incidents, but nothing that matches the popular fervor surrounding the topic. Murdering your own guys, even someone you don't like, is real unlikely. This is a topic people talk about from time to time when they have a leader they hate (see Ambrose' "Band of Brothers" - they talked about potentially killing their first company commander numerous times, but of course never did). There's a lot of bravado in the military, and a lot of people flap their gums as a way to relieve stress. I would chalk this up to that and a negative popular perception of the Vietnam War experience.

Answer 5

the vc were kings of the jungle (although the aus sas only had 1 fatality ) fragging was when soldiers did not want to fight placed grenade near their commanding officer, we cannot judge the actions of these men as cowardly as they were fighting a terrible war. The name fragging comes from the m26 fragmentation grenade which was standard issue to troops at that time

Answer 6

Fragging: The Vietnam link
26 May 2007, 0211 hrs IST,Atul Thakur,TNN
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With the ongoing trail of Staff Sgt Alberto B Martinez, accused of fragging two officers in June 2005 in Iraq and the growing intensity of anti-war protests in the US, it's becoming apparent that Iraq is transforming into another Vietnam. US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals reportedly said in a UK newspaper that Bush's war is already lost.

This war is rather going to a no-win situation, and this is adding to the soldiers' confusion. Sacrificing life for a cause, which is not justified by the soldier himself, is, eventually a major reason for such a radical step.
In a similar incident, another US sergeant, Hasan Akbar, was convicted in 2005 of fragging two officers by rolling grenades into their tents and opening fire in Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, in March 2003. Akbar became the first US soldier convicted of murdering a colleague in war since Vietnam, where the word first came into being.

Fragging or frag incidents was American soldier slang in the Vietnam war for killing or deliberate maiming of an unpopular senior. The term, fragging, takes its origin from the fragmentation grenade (commonly known as a 'frag'). A hand grenade was often used because it would neither leave fingerprints, nor a ballistic test could be done.

The word first came to public attention in the 1971 trial of African American soldier Billy Dean Smith, who was accused of murdering two white officers during the Vietnam War. According to US army figures 82 Americans were killed and 651 were injured in 600 fragging incidents from 1969 to 1971. However, it is estimated that at least 230 American officers were killed by their own troops, and as many as 1,400 other officer deaths are still unexplained.

The targets of the attacks were mostly junior field officers. The soldiers were often pushed over the top by what they considered brutal and dehumanising actions of the officers. Their hatred was fed by resentment of being drafted and forced to fight in what they considered a senseless war against the Vietnamese.

According to a study by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, majority of cases of fratricidal killings in Indian Armed Forces were triggered by stress linked to personal problems rather than operational stress. However it can't be concluded that fragging is an individual reaction to emotionally disturbing circumstances, there is enough evidence to suggest that it was many time a collective decision, rather than a personal vendetta.

During Vietnam War, soldiers put bounties on officers targeted for fragging. The money, usually between $100 and $1,000, was collected from the enlisted men. Fraggings were occasionally called off. One lieutenant refused to obey an order to storm a hill during an operation in the Mekong Delta.

His first sergeant later told him that when his men heard him refuse that order, they removed a $350 bounty earlier placed on his head because they thought he was a hard-liner. Fragging can also be seen as subordinates' way to control officers. Capt Barry Steinberg, an Army judge who has presided over trials involving fraggings, once said that it is an effective way to control officers, once an officer is intimidated by even the threat of fragging he is useless to the military because he can no longer carry out orders essential to the functioning of the army.

The term might have originated from Vietnam War, but it has been around in history. In the First World War, the US military court-martialled 370 soldiers for violence directed at superiors. However, it would be unfair to link it completely to America, fratricidal killings is rather a global phenomena.

Answer 7

We had a battalion XO that was well disliked (even the battalion CO didn't like him) . I went by his hooch early one morning and saw a grenade under the tire of his jeep, with the pin pulled partially out - meant as a warning, not to detonate. I took it - we didn't need him making life miserable for everyone because of that.

Answer 8

everyone here summed it up real good,i was in the marines and in vietnam during 1967 and on one occasion, i remember the oder for lp and op's surrounding the huge danang airbase be pulled way in one evening and yes,there was a mortar attack,explicitedly on the danang brig and it lasted all night long and close to 800 men were blown to pieces while locked in the cells

Answer 9

Combo of people not wanting to be there, poor leaders, unpopular war, race, combat fatigue, low caliber of some troops and out and out criminals being drafted. The millitary is just a segment of the population and is subject to many of the same crimes as the rest of society. people kill their bosses in civilian life. Its just easier when you have ready access to grenades in combat zone!

Answer 10

fragging was a way to get rid of an officer or leader you didnt like.

A lot of times this was done becuase the enlisted men felt the officer put them in danger without reason or was a bad leader that would get them killed if they didnt get rid of them