9 Things Australian Soldiers Did in Vietnam That the US Army Never Taught Its Grunts

Soft hats instead of steel pots, one aimed shot at a time, a hundred meters an hour, and ambushes where nobody moved for twelve hours. The Australians brought a way of fighting from Malaya and Borneo that looked crazy to the Americans who first saw it. The US Army even had to send its trackers to a British school in Malaysia to learn part of it. Chapters: 0:00 The patrol at Bien Hoa 2:15 No helmets on patrol 4:04 One aimed shot at a time 5:52 A hundred meters an hour, off the tracks 7:28 Small groups, alone for days 9:00 Twelve hours without moving 10:53 The trackers and the school in Malaysia 12:41 Long Tan 15:06 The minefield 15:57 Trained as the unit they fought in 17:22 They went home together 18:53 The parades they waited for 20:12 Back at Bien Hoa Your turn: did you serve alongside the Australians or New Zealanders in Vietnam, and what did you learn from them? Unit, place and year, one line is enough. Sources: - Ian McNeill, To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950-1966 (Allen & Unwin, 1993) - Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins, On the Offensive: The Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967-1968 (Allen & Unwin, 2003) - Greg Lockhart, The Minefield: An Australian Tragedy in Vietnam (Allen & Unwin, 2007) - Department of Veterans' Affairs (Australia), Anzac Portal: Battle of Long Tan and Vietnam Veterans' Day - HistoryNet and The American Legion, accounts of the US Army combat tracker teams in Vietnam #VietnamWar #VietnamVeterans #LongTan