Painful as it is to admit..atrocities did happen. Be sure to read the part about how the government kept this buried.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031022/SRTIGERFORCE/110190169THE SERIES: Elite unit savaged civilians in Vietnam
c THE BLADE, 2003
(snip)"It was an elite fighting unit in Vietnam - small, mobile, trained to kill.
Known as Tiger Force, the platoon was created by a U.S. Army engaged in a new kind of war - one defined by ambushes, booby traps, and a nearly invisible enemy. But the platoon's mission did not go as planned, with some soldiers breaking the rules of war.
Women and children were intentionally blown up in underground bunkers. Elderly farmers were shot as they toiled in the fields. Prisoners were tortured and executed - their ears and scalps severed for souvenirs. One soldier kicked out the teeth of executed civilians for their gold fillings." (end snip)