conference proceedings - Australian Army

The hIGheR dIReCTION OF The ARMy IN The VIeTNAM WAR
available, 1ATF in Phuoc Tuy Province and the Training Team throughout the country
generally achieved more than the forces of other nations. After the war the Army did not
have to rebuild its morale and ethos as was necessary with the United States Army. The
Army high command must be given credit for these outcomes. Lessons were learned.
The new command arrangements that emerged in 1976, particularly the appointment of
the Chief of the Defence Force Staff with statutory command authority over the Defence
Force, grew out of Wilton’s experiences in the Vietnam War. The Australian Defence
Force that we know today with its joint command and staff structures—the AdF that
performed so well in east Timor in 1999-2000—owes much to the efforts to rectify the
higher command deficiencies that came to light in the Vietnam War.
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