conference proceedings - Australian Army

PReFACe
whose behalf and alongside whom Australians, Americans, Koreans, Thais and others
fought and bled. Two aspects of the war and its impact on the Army are addressed here,
although to date they have featured hardly at all in writing on the war: the impact on
the Citizen Military Forces (CMF), denied a role and relegated to ‘Third XV’ status in
the defence of Australia; and the institutional and policy consequences for the Army in
the aftermath of withdrawal and the ultimate defeat of Western interests in 1975.
The Vietnam War remains a living force in American public life, as some of the
discussion about the possible war on Iraq in recent months makes clear. In Australia
the war has much more clearly been consigned to ‘history’. That does not, and should
not, mean that it is of interest only to military history buffs and old soldiers reliving
their past. The Australian Army was called on to function at a level and at a sustained
intensity in a manner not seen since the Second World War. Many of the issues of
training, doctrine, manpower, command and inter-allied relations are live ones still,
and would be instantly recognisable to those who led the Australian contribution to
INTeRFeT in east Timor in 1999-2000. Despite the fact of defeat in Indochina and
the frustration of American power, the Australian Army rose to the challenges thrown
at it by the Vietnam commitment and generally met them successfully. How it did so,
and the costs incurred in doing so, are worth careful study as the Army is again faced
with the defence of Australian interests in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable
international order.
A volume such as this would not be possible without the willing cooperation of many
individuals. As always, Roger Lee and his staff at the Army History Unit were responsible
for the overall organisation of the conference, and we thank them for their sustained
efforts. Our speakers responded graciously to our requests for written versions of their
papers (some of which have been considerably expanded for inclusion on this volume)
to be available in what might seem in academic circles to be indecent haste. Dr Peter
edwards kindly allowed us to adapt his after-dinner speech for inclusion here. In the
production of the volume we have been greatly helped by the willing cooperation of
Margaret McNally, Jeff Doyle, and Kurt Fountain. We could not have got to the point
of publication without their assistance, and we are very grateful for it. It is seven years
since we first began to work with (then) Colonel Peter Leahy in helping to plan the
program for and subsequent publication of the proceedings of the Chief of Army’s
military history conference. It gives us special pleasure to acknowledge his continuing
support, as Chief of Army, for history in the Army and the wider community.
Peter Dennis & Jeffrey Grey
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