Jeyi,
My indictment of the Americal is strictly anecdotal from sources I’ve read( Keith William Nolan for one, a very astute Viet Nam battle historian)
My impression of the Division is based on the fact that they were largely pieced together in country. Other units sent troops, many of whom were problem children. Among incidents I’ve read of were one or two refusals to engage the enemy under direct orders; horrible tactical blunders (one unit set up in a vacant VC base camp for the night without putting out lps- they suffered 14 kias,) In 1971 Fire Base Mary Ann was overrun by NVA sappers because guys were smoking weed on the bunker line. They suffered over 80 casualties with 23 killed.
Calley’s unit patrolled the Batangan peninsula and suffered lots of boobie trap casualties. Unable to find the enemy they slaughtered non-combatants; a total breakdown in military discipline.
I admit their A.O. was alot more dangerous than mine(25th Division northwest of Saigon),but all in all our units kept their discipline even though much of our area was full of VC sympathizers. I never saw any atrocities in the field among our guys.
I went through basic training at Fort Dix with a guy named Rodney Bayliss who became the XO in Calley’s unit. He was a good guy and I always felt sorry for him that he ended up in that mess.