Posted Jul 1 2011

Thanks for the program. I would really like to have heard whether the author looked into issues of when/whether fragging incidents were actually reported. This could have a significant impact on the author's characterization of fragging incidents being perpetrated primarily by individuals with history of family/civilian life problems and non-combat personnel, and might shed light on what the author, possibly inadvertently, characterized in your segment as being perpetrated by Black militants--militants being his word, and what was edited into the version the aired, inferring Black militants, since those were pretty much the only militants commonly referenced during the Vietnam era. Communist and militant being commonly considered synonyms, and feminists not in a position to be combat personnel. Of course, feminists could certainly have been seen as some of those with "family problems."

It is, I believe, fairly common that people with less power in a society are less likely to report incidents of maltreatment. So, for example, until there was considerable effort to put forth a message that "no means no," many victims of sexual assault did not report the crimes committed against them. Even after decades of advocacy, there is still an underlying question of whether a sexual assault victim "asked for it."

My point is, given the history of the military, the culture of the military, why did the author not address at all how incidents might or might not have been reported "prior to the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination," to use the author's reference point. That is, how many incidents of fragging went unreported because the victim was not aligned with anyone in a position of power.

Also, I would have appreciated a response to a question of whether the number of combat-personnel-related incidents of fragging might be lower because it's much harder to hide an incidence of fragging in a non-combat situation.

It would have made a stronger interview had the interviewer's preparation/background understanding of the topic area enabled her to address these questions so the presentation did not come off as having a narrow, Defense Department-approved perspective. Regardless of what the answers might have been, I think having the questions acknowledged is very important, especially given what I think is the target audience of New America Media.