America Case

Pickett should refuse to kill the woman and her eleven-year old son. It is against his morals, he is risking their lives with invalid information, and he is in a state of mismanaging his aggressive emotions.

Uncontrolled emotions can lead to poor decision making. Anger should not be the ultimate reason for making such a decisive decision. "Pickett could feel the anger rise in the pit of his stomach. Now there were three men dead because of what this woman and her son may have done." Pickett will most likely regret murdering the woman and child if he lets his emotions take control of his actions.

It is possible that the woman and son did not understand the American soldiers due to their lack of knowledge in the english language. "He took out his pistol and pt it to the woman's head. She and her son began crying and whimpering something in Vietnamese that he could not understand." If Pickett murdered these people, there would be no justice for the death of his teammates due to the lack in evidence.

Pickett's morals and understanding what is and is not acceptable is the reason why he hesitated to shoot them. "As he took the safety off of the pistol, he could hear the village women and children crying and whimpering. He tightened his finger on the trigger, but then he hesitated." In his mind, he knows this is wrong and he would not have even thought about killing women and children if he was not being forced to do so. "Pickett was appalled at the idea of killing women and children, especially when there was a chance they might be innocent." Even though a "good soldier" must obey all orders of his superior officers, he should not be forced to do something against his beliefs.

"A hasty investigation by the company commander, Captain Jose Juarez, uncovered evidence that the village was inhabited by only women and children and also pointed to a woman and her eleven-year old child as the possible culprits." Due to the "hasty" and hurried investigation, there is a high possibility that the commander collected invalid information. The lack in evidence does not support the claim that the woman and child contributed to the death of his teammates. Pickett should not kill the woman and child with the risk of them being innocent and having nothing to do with the booby traps.