A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War

21 Episodes

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A Ferocious Place: Long Binh Jail

2026-06-2435:43

Long Binh Jail — nicknamed LBJ — was the U.S. Army's largest prison in Vietnam, and many soldiers feared it more than the battlefield. Overcrowded, brutal, and seething with racial tension, it held men imprisoned for resisting an increasingly unpopular war — going AWOL, defying orders, refusing to fight. In the summer of 1968, that tension exploded. Black inmates rose up, overwhelmed the guards, and took control of the stockade. In this episode of A Matter of Conscience, we go inside LB...

War is Hell: In Country Resistance, Part 2

2026-05-2843:54

In this powerful episode of A Matter of Conscience, veterans of the Vietnam War bear witness to the unthinkable — and reveal the moral courage it took to refuse complicity. From infantry soldiers surviving ambushes, to a military intelligence officer who risked his life to stop the torture of prisoners, to a whistleblower threatened into silence after reporting war crimes, these are stories of young men — barely out of their teens — confronting the darkest extremes of warfare. We’ll also hear...

The Quiet Mutiny

2026-05-1439:42

In this episode, we take you to the battlefields of Vietnam, where many young soldiers faced a moral conflict while just trying to stay alive. This is the first part of our look at resistance on the battlefield. GIs, like George Silver and Roy Barrington, practiced “search and evade” tactics where they would avoid engaging with the enemy. And, the military had to confront the prevalence of drug use fundamentally driven by a collapse of morale amongst troops. Warning: this episode has disturbi...

BONUS EPISODE: First person with Peter Hagerty

2026-02-1818:01

In 1969 Peter Hagerty, Navy ROTC instructor, inspected a destroyer the way he was supposed to. He followed the rules. The ship was in bad shape. He told his superior that the hairline crack on the barrels of the guns could cause an explosion. He said he would not approve the ship for battle. The captain told Peter, "you're a goddamn agitator” and said he would court-martial him. He found an attorney to defend him as he refused to go to Vietnam. Hagerty, motivated by guilt that his class backg...

Breaking the Chain of Command

2026-02-1146:36

Resistance among military officers takes courage. Most officers have earned their promotion from following orders. To say “No” an officer might be risking their career. In this episode, we showcase the stories of two officers, also pilots, who disobeyed orders during the Vietnam War: Charlie Clements, U.S. Air Force and John Kent, U.S. Navy. We explore how they made the decision to rebel and the consequences of that non-conformity. For show notes, photos, and more, visit our website.

#box-pro-ellipsis-179143108431079{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War

A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War