"Gary Bray landed in South Vietnam as a recently married, freshly minted second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. His assignment was not enviable: leading the platoon whose former members had committed the My Lai massacure--the murder of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians--eighteen months earlier. In this compelling memoir, he shares his experiences of Vietnam in the direct wake of that terrible event." "'After My Lai' documents the horrific effects of the war on both sides of the struggle. Bray presents the Vietnamese conflict as the touchstone of a generation, telling how his feelings about being a soldier--a family tradition-- were dramatically altered by the events he participated in and witnessed. He explains how young men, angered by the deaths of comrades and with no release for their frustrations, can sometimes cross the line of legal and ethical behavior." "Bray's account differs from many Vietnamese memoirs in his vivid descriptions of platoon-level tactical operations. As he builds suspense in moment-by-moment depictions of men plunging into jungle gloom and tragedy, he demonstrates that what led to My Lai is easier to comprehend once you've walked the booby-trapped ground yourself. Bray doesn't attempt to excuse the massacre--but he does come to understand how it could have happened. An intensely personal story, gracefully rendered yet brutally honest, After My Lai reveals for general and military readers alike how the burden of warfare changes you forever."--Back cover.