Chapter 17, July Summary and Analysis

Captain Smith takes command of Alpha Company after the departure of Captain Johansen. The soldiers don't trust Captain Smith because he is new to combat, a green officer. Smith leads Alpha Company back into the My Lai to the village of My Khe, accompanied by a column of armored fighting vehicles mounted with fifty-caliber machine guns. As O'Brien is the radio carrier, he stays with Captain Smith and decides he does not like him. Smith is slovenly and inept, and he admits it. Captain Smith is not concerned with bravery and he is careless with lives of his men.

As they march through the villages looking for mines, they find nothing. For protection at night, they round up old women and children as prisoners, herding them into a stagnant rice paddy surrounded by the soldiers. By the next morning...