Conscripts and Regulars: With the Seventh Battalion in Vietnam

The story begins in September 1965 when a small cadre of professional soldiers assembled at Puckapunyal in Victoria. Their task: to create, from a mixed bunch of conscripts and regulars, a battalion ready for combat in the paddyfields, plantations and jungles of Vietnam. Two tours of duty followed, in 1967-68 and 1970-71. The story becomes a frank, meticulous account of patrols, ambushes, cordon and search operations, fleeting contacts - casualties inflicted and casualties taken. It is also the story of action during the maelstrom of the 1968 Tet Offensive, of fiece engagements such as Suoi Chau Pha and Ap Suoi Nghe. The result; gradually depriving the enemy of sources of support, sapping his morale and destroying his dominance of the civil population. This was the payoff for many months of hard training and self-discipline which turned green soldiers into combat-hardened troops. This is an account of Australians at war which indulges in no heroics and pulls no punches. It presents a picture of the daily work of professional soldiers sent by their country to perform the job they were trained to do. 'The intimate story of a battalion and the men who gave it its life, told largely by the men of the battalion in the undemonstrative, matter-of-fact manner of the Australian soldier.' Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Daly, KBE, CB, DSO, Chief of General Staff 1966-71. Brigadier Mike O'Brien served in Vietnam in 1970-71 as a platoon commander and intelligence officer of the 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian regiment. A graduate of Duntroon, he has performed a wide variety of staff and instructional appointments. He was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 1992. On promotion to Brigadier in 1994 he was appointed Chief of Staff, Headquarters Logistic Command. He is currently Commander, Army Technology and Engineering Agency. Among Brigadier O'Brien's interests are reading and helping to run the Defence Credit Union. He is contemplating the prospect of writing another book.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Illustrations Abbreviations Vietnamese terms and conversion factors Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction 1. Raising and training - 'Aged Lentils and Fresh Greens' 2. Phyoc Tuy and the context of war 3. The first tour - Puckapunyal to Southport 4. Suoi Chau Pha - a broad and noble stream 5. Atherton to Forrest 6. Duntroon and the Tet Offensive 7. Oakleigh to the end of the tour 8. Re-forming and retraining 9. The second tour - Operation Finschhafen 10. Increasing ambushing 11. Pacification and Vietnamisation 12. Final operations 13. The battalion in peacetime 14. Legacies of services Appendices Indeces

About the Author :
Brigadier Michael O'Brien served with 7Rar during its second tour in Vietnam.