A podcast on the communist Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao should probably be on your “to do” list.
They used brainwashed kids as soldiers. This is what the Left does.
They kill. It’s the only thing they’re good at.
Ironically it took the North Vietnamese to overthrow the Khmer Rouge.
And to their credit, Vietnam, pretty much abandoned Communism by 1986, even though they remain a one-party State.
Their parents as well. Back in the early '90s some Shah Iranian friends lent me a video of Australian medics working in Iran after the Iraq-Iran war.
They were trying to fix up the facial scars of kids the Khomeini sent to war. Their parents were so whipped up on martyring their 8-12-year-olds, they answered his call for volunteers and sent them off.
He sent those kids in ahead of the infantry, waving their little green books and tripping land mines as they charged. A lot were the German-type "ping" mines that once tripped, popped up and then blew shrapnel/ball bearings about waist high to a man. The kids being shorter, caught the full blast in the face. The ones who survived were blinded and/or horribly scarred.
The ones who were now in their teens were complaining that they couldn't get married as no woman wanted a scarred/blind husband.
One of the Aussies was looking over a kid, telling his dad "We can stop the drooling, but that is all" when a grandfather brought in his blind son. He told the medics he was willing to give his eyes for the kid, as "I was told you in the West could do this." When told "No", you could see his face drop as he realized what a fool he had been.