MY GENERATION

MY GENERATION

Nasho's, that what they called us, or Conscripts, referring of course to National Servicemen, and the fact that we were not volunteers, but had been conscripted into the Army, to increase the numbers. On the 5^th of November 1964 Cabinet decided to introduce a selective National Service scheme. The government had concluded that Australia had inadequate Defence manpower and aimed to increase the strength of the Army to 33,000 by the end of 1966.

Between 1965 and December 1972, over 800,000 men were required to register for National Service. Out of this number over 63,000 were conscripted for two years full time service, and over 19,000 served in Vietnam. To decide who would be called up, birthday numbers and a lottery barrel with numbered marbles was used, and two ballots were conducted each year. I was in the first callup of 1965, but because I was part way through a three-year Certificate Course in Building that had two more years to run, I was allowed to finish this course before having to do my two years of National Service.

So, my two years were 1967 and 1968. The Army flew a plane load of us young men from Brisbane airport to Williamstown Airport at Newcastle N.S.W. and then took us by bus to Singleton, where we formed part of the Third Training Battalion. As a recruit, the lowest rank in the Army, you are known as a Private, sometimes abbreviated to "Pte," and you are given a number. My number was 1732693, and no matter how long you are in the Army, or how many ranks you may achieve, this number never changes.

In the Australian Army, just like the British Army, the name Private is derived from the medieval term, "private soldiers" denoting individuals who were either hired, conscripted or mustered into service by a feudal nobleman commanding a battle group of the army. The usage of "private" dates from the eighteenth century.

We had 12 weeks of recruit training, and during this time we had a lot of physical training, some theory of army procedures, some films, and practical activities including, marching, rifle assembly and disassembly and cleaning, target rifle shooting, F1 sub-machine gun shooting, throwing of hand grenades, guard duty and kitchen duty, and one long route march. Basically, this training is similar to what you receive if you are in the (R.A.I.) Royal Australian Infantry.

Towards the end of the twelve weeks we were asked to fill out a printed form of questions including your preference of corps training, where you could list three branches of the army in the order of your preference. The word going around, at the time I remember was, "It doesn't matter what branch of the army you choose you will probably get Infantry." Anyway, I put down Construction Engineers first, and I was fortunate to be allotted Engineers, my first preference, however, not Construction Engineers, but Field Engineers.

We were sent from Singleton to Casula three kilometres south- east of Liverpool N.S.W., to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.), where I soon learned just what it was that Field Engineers did in the Army. At S.M.E. your rank changes from "Private" to "Sapper," and you are in the (R.A.E.) Royal Australian Engineers. And why "Sapper" I hear you ask?

The name "Sapper" is derived from the French word "sappe" ("spadework" or "trench") and became connected with military engineering during the seventeenth century, when attackers dug covered trenches to approach the walls of a besieged fort. They also tunnelled under those walls and then collapsed the tunnels, thus undermining the walls. Those trenches and tunnels were called "saps," and their diggers came to be called "sappers." Australian soldiers are also called "diggers," and this is the reason. The Army also has a nickname for us Engineers too, they call us, in rhyming slang, "ginger-beers."

The origin of the Royal Australian Engineers dates back to 15^th of November 1860, when the Corps of Engineers was founded in the colony of Victoria by Peter Scratchley.

Field Engineers are trained to disarm and dispose of enemy landmines and un-exploded ordinance, lay minefields, disable enemy booby-traps and tunnels, and fight as Infantry if needed. All of which is quite different to a construction Engineer who learns to build roads, airfields, bridges, repair railways and ports, provide electric power, build and repair buildings, set up bulk fuel installations, purify water, and also fight as Infantry if needed. Some of these skills are learned by both sections of the R.A.E., so they tend to overlap in actual practice.

During the ten weeks of corps training we did a fair bit of theory, saw some films, and had hands on experience with explosives and bridge building. I remember watching several engineers set up an explosive ring main with what is called a double initiation. This is where you set up various charges, T.N.T. and C4 Plastic explosives to cut heavy steel, barb wire entanglements, and cratering charges to damage roads etc. and have two ways to set it off, so that if one way fails you have a backup. This is done using detonator cord a thin flexible plastic tube filled with Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, (P.E.T.N.) which explodes rather than burns, at the rate of 6,400 m/s or almost instantly. As a second backup initiation you can use a black powder fuse, which is much slower and burns rather than explodes.

I vividly remember inspecting the result of a bangalore torpedo, (a tube filled with explosives), that was inserted through a barb wire entanglement, which had steel star picket supports, and to see the wire and the steel pickets cleanly cut off at ground level and completely removed, leaving about a six feet wide clear space with nothing there. It was almost un-believable, but there is was, right before your very eyes.

One night with no moon, we built a pontoon bridge across the Georges river, which is near S.M.E., and then ran across it, with a simulation of being under fire, as someone fired flares to illuminate the crossing, and blanks to give a feeling of what it is like when under actual enemy fire. It was quite scary but also exhilarating at the same time.

We learned about Land Mines, Anti-personnel mines, Claymore mines, I.E.D.'s (Improvised Explosive Devices), Jumping Jack Mines, Trip wires, and of course Anti-lifting Devices (A.L.D.'s.). All of these are extremely dangerous, but the one we all feared the most was the A.L.D.'s. and these were responsible for most of the deaths of Sappers in Vietnam. These are secondary charges, often, but not always, fitted to the underside of a land mine and set to explode when a soldier tries to disarm a land mine, or as we say to lift a mine.

Another feature of this war was the Vietnam boot. These were made for use in Vietnam and had a steel plate fitted inside the sole of the boot. These were invented in response to the great many foot injuries caused to soldiers treading on sharpened bamboo stakes in Punji pits. The tips of these stakes were nearly always coated with a poison of some sort. In the tropical climate of Vietnam these poisons were often lethal. After the enemy realised that these boots were preventing foot injuries, they changed their tactics and fitted the pits with these Punji sticks in the sides of the pit and pointing downwards, so that a soldier cannot remove his foot without help, and the stakes penetrate the sides of a soldier's leg. Very nasty indeed.

After this corps training you are sent to an Engineer Corps for the remainder of your two years of National Service. I was sent to 7^th Field Squadron at Enoggera in Brisbane. Once you are in a corps you go wherever this corps goes. Next, I did a Storeman Technical course at S.M.E. and earned a Lance Corporal stripe. During my time at 7^th Field Squadron it did not go overseas. We did go on exercises to Tin Can Bay once and to Shoal Water Bay twice, and flew in helicopters a couple of times.

We did study Vietnam the country, the geography, the towns, the North Vietnamese Army, the South Vietnamese people, and of course the Viet Cong who are also known as the National Liberation Front.

The story of the Vietnam war, a war that divided nations, needs to include two very deadly and at times very controversial components, namely Napalm and Agent Orange. Both of these deadly chemical concoctions were dropped from the air onto the country of Vietnam, and of course it's people and livestock and crops, in extremely gigantic quantities, with devastating results, that even today, fifty years later, are still being felt in human disabilities and birth defects.

Napalm or jellied gasoline, is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical. The name Napalm is derived as Na from Naphthenic acid and Palm from Palmitic acid. When used as a part of an incendiary weapon, Napalm can cause severe burns (ranging from superficial to subdermal), asphyxiation, unconsciousness, and death. Napalm fires can create an atmosphere of greater than 20% carbon monoxide, (a poisonous gas), and firestorms with self-perpetuating winds of up to 110 km per hour.

Napalm is effective against dug in enemy personnel. The burning incendiary composition flows into foxholes, trenches and bunkers, and drainage and irrigation ditches and other improvised troop shelters. Even people in undamaged shelters can be killed by hyperthermia, radiant heat, dehydration, asphyxiation, smoke exposure, or carbon monoxide poisoning. This is a truly hellish weapon ingredient.

Agent Orange is one of the Rainbow herbicides, for there is also Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, and White. It is widely known for its use by the U.S. military as part of its herbal warfare program in Vietnam. It is a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, traces of dioxin (mainly TCDD, the most toxic of its type) found in the mixture have caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed. Up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the defoliant. The full story of Agent Orange would fill many books, so I cannot go into it here. The reason for using it in Vietnam was to defoliate trees and shrubs that provided cover for the enemy.   

Between 1965 and 1972 Vietnam was daily in the news, or so it seemed at the time, and Australians became familiar with hearing the names of towns and cities in Vietnam. Names such as Da Nang, Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy, Bien Hoa, Vung Tau, Long Tan, and the Ho Chi Minh trail.

Many Nasho's have risen to high office in Australia. Included among them are, Governor General Bill Hayden; Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett; Queensland deputy Premier Sir Llew Edwards; businessmen Sir James Hardy; Lindsay Fox; General Rod Fay; entertainers Graham Kennedy; Clive James; and Normie Rowe; and sportsmen Llew Hoad; Doug Walters; Peter Brock; and Dick Johnson.

So, in conclusion I will leave you with the Royal Australian Engineers mottos, which are: Ubique meaning, (Everywhere); and Honi soit qui mal y pense meaning, (Evil be to him who evil thinks.)

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