President Nixon in preparation for any peace talks in Paris withdraw troops from Vietnam but then escalates the conflict in Cambodia.
America is still divided and protests against the war is growing. Soldiers who fought in Vietnam or their family members are confused but they themselves are supporting the anti war movement or speaking out against the war.
Stories of American war crimes become public and they were not an isolated incident. The My Lai massacre where civilians including babies, women, children and the old were slaughtered. More would have died if not for another US helicopter that deliberately got in the way in order to protect the civilians at risk. The perpetrators for these criminal actions were let off easy.
The ugliness of the war in the far east came closer to home when in an anti war demo at Kent State University on May 4 1970,. Twenty nine National Guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students, wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
One of the dead and some of the injured were innocent bystanders who were just walking between classes. The parents of the dead bystander received hate mail calling their slain son a communist.
For some ex army veterans like John Musgrave this was the tipping point. It was a shock to see that photograph of a guy with long curly black hair and beard at the end of the episode with the caption John Musgrave, now a fully fledged anti war protester.