The author studied 28 men convicted and confined for use of explosives in assaults on superior officers during the Viet Nam war. There were several predominant characteristics in this group, including deprivation and/or brutality in family backgrounds, poor self-image, lack of critical self-observation, the use of externalization, and feelings of insecurity or vulnerability. Drug use joined with these and several other factors related to the situation of these men in Viet Nam in a lethal combination that led to the perpetration of an indirect assault with an explosive device on a figure perceived as powerful and threatening.