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94 THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY AND THE VIETNAM WAR 1962–1972 five different radio nets in my own carrier. Among other things, they induced a totally new state of mind in the army. How quickly people overcome differences and adjusted to the hothouse circumstances of Vietnam can be gauged from this description by a sergeant in charge of three carriers: Due east of Long Tan, up the track, was a feature we called the ‘Twin Tits’. A big shitfight developed: canister, 90mm, RPGs, blow for blow, hitting tanks and hitting APCs and an APC was hit right in front. It stuffs up the engine; the driver was wounded in the head. The tanks would fire and an RPG would fire and [the enemy] traded blow for blow with the tanks and APCs which weren’t giving up at all and the VC weren’t running away. We formed up and assaulted through and I said to my driver, ‘Anyone in those bunkers?’ He said ‘No.’ I looked out the back and there were bastards coming out of their holes like rats and we were right behind the tanks! So we assaulted right in and we caught them on top. It was a classic tank in fire support, APC and grunt contact, brilliant. Meanwhile, we recovered that damaged vehicle … that afternoon and, out of the mist the next morning, [comes] the same APC—the driver with a bandage round his head flapping in the breeze. The vehicle had been cleaned, steam-cleaned out, new power pack, test driven, everthing cleaned up, but still with a hole in it. The crew showered and shaved and were now back! Not even first light and by themselves. 41 Conclusion As a personal generalisation, I believe that the Vietnam War was the key watershed in the <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Army</strong>’s post-Second World War professional life. We went into the conflict half-trained and inadequately prepared: we emerged from it better than we had ever been, and with a professional edge that, arguably, we have never lost. For example, I do not believe that General Peter Cosgrove’s judgements would have been as well informed in east Timor had he not had Vietnam experience. As Santayana reminded us, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ 42 If we had to do it again would we do it the same way? I hope not. First, we need to keep pursuing and practising ‘all arms’ doctrine, not just in theory, but on the ground. The penalty if we do not is that we just continue to re-invent the wheel! Second, I believe it is a fundamental mistake for so called military analysts and other soothsayers to speak loosely in terms of deploying ‘an infantry battalion’ overseas: it 41. McKay and Nicholas, Jungle Tracks, 166. Sergeant J.T. ‘Blue’ O’Reilly was on his second tour as a cavalry section commander. He later became an officer. 42. George Santayana, The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress (New York: Scribner’s Sons, 1917), 284.
PRePARING ARMOuReD uNITS FOR OVeRSeAS SeRVICe must be a combined arms team, complete with two types of armour, up to three types of artillery if necessary, combat engineers, and its own slice of aviation support. If the potential opposition is so innocuous not to require that, we should re-think sending a military force at all: a force of police and/or civilians is far cheaper. Third, we cannot afford to be as secretive about a potential deployments as we were in the case of sending the tanks to Vietnam. I realise politicians are not easily moved on this subject, but, for the CO of the 1st Armoured Regiment and his earmarked squadron commander to learn of their commitment to Vietnam on the ABC news, suggests strongly that we, the army, connived at the process ourselves, even if inadvertently. Fourth, would we ‘trickle’ again: my answer would be no. But we would need to know much more about the potential task and have thought through the training variables beforehand. It should not be beyond our intelligence specialists and combat analysts to put us in that position. 95
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THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY AND THE VIETNAM
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Contents Preface vii Contributors x
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Preface Vietnam was Australia’s l
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PReFACe whose behalf and alongside
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CONTRIBUTORS which he was joint edi
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CONTRIBUTORS Command and General St
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CONTRIBUTORS Barry Smith was conscr
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Introduction Lieutentant General Pe
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The Vietnam Syndrome: A Brief Histo
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THE VIETNAM SYNDROME: A BRIEF HISTO
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP support in
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP had stated
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP This patte
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP of the Fed
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP targeting
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP was intere
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP Between Mc
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CONVERSATIONS AT THE TOP least your
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The Higher Direction of the Army in
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The hIGheR dIReCTION OF The ARMy IN
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Page 61 and 62: The hIGheR dIReCTION OF The ARMy IN
Page 77 and 78: The TrAInIng oF The AusTrAlIAn Army
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Page 115 and 116: THe deVeLoPMeNT oF THe AusTrALIAN A
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Page 145 and 146: AUSTRAliAN TASk FORce OPeRATiONS iN
Page 157 and 158: fIGHTING AGAINST TIme Vietnam. for
Page 159 and 160: fIGHTING AGAINST TIme By 1963 the A
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fIGHTING AGAINST TIme To the south,
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fIGHTING AGAINST TIme Bewildered by
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fIGHTING AGAINST TIme the ARVN was
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fIGHTING AGAINST TIme Decreased fun
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS and under the
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS military build
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS out of America
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS was no comfort
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS Until the summ
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS Korean soldier
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS in the south.
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS children to gi
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS South Korean u
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS in the Lunar C
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS remark, which
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS estimate, he h
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS to official gu
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THE mAKING OF TIGERS the 70s, Korea
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NeW ZeALAND’S COMMITMeNT OF INFAN
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Meeting the Challenge of Training a
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MEETING ThE ChALLENGE OF TRAINING
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MEETING ThE ChALLENGE OF TRAINING I
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MEETING ThE ChALLENGE OF TRAINING T
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MEETING ThE ChALLENGE OF TRAINING F
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ANZAC Battalions: Australian Experi
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ANZAC BATTALIONS: AUSTRALIAN ExPERI
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The Role and Impact of Civil Affair
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THe ROLe AND IMPACT OF CIVIL AFFAIR
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Liaison Detachment THe ROLe AND IMP
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THe AUSTrAlIAN ArMy TrAININg TeAM V
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM In late 1961,
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM eventually de
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM Compounding t
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM After arrivin
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM ARVN’s lack
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM reports that
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ADVISoRS AND oPTIMISM war was unwin
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Becoming the 3rd XV: The Citizen Mi
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV conventional wa
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV the time did no
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV The CMF’s his
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV out and the CMF
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV thus discharged
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV January 1967 an
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BECOMING THE 3RD XV the distant pos
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The Australian Army and the Vietnam
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THE AUSTRALIAN ARMy AND THE VIETNAM
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HoW HISToRy WoRKS: AFTERTHoUGHTS Al
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