Crossfire: An Australian Reconnaissance Unit in Vietnam

by Peter Haran, Robert Kearney

In October 1966, 28 soldiers were chosen to form Australia?s first specialist Reconnaissance Platoon in the Vietnam War. One of this platoon?s section commanders was a 20-year old regular soldier called Bob Kearney, who led a series of deadly patrols, operating in isolation and extreme danger ahead of the main Australian forces.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, War

Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Peter joined the army in 1966 and first served in Vietnam, at age 19, from May 1967 to June 1968. He was one of Australia's first tracking dog handlers and wrote of his experiences in his book Trackers. After two years as a dog trainer with the Army's Tracking Unit in Sydney Peter served a second tour in Vietnam from Feb 1971 to Oct 1971. He left the army in 1972 and was a reporter for Adelaide’s Sunday Mail for 25 years. Peter also wrote Flashback, Crossfire & Shockwave.

During his post-war service life Peter became an active member of the Vietnam Veterans’ Federation and as a Federation education officer launched a program in state high schools.

Through the SA History Teachers Association he now regularly speaks to students studying Vietnam history. He also talks on a frequent basis to canine clubs and associations on the role that tracking dogs played in the Vietnam War and their role today.

He is a founding member of the Australian Army Trackers And War Dogs Association.

Reviews

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about a young Aussies' experience fighting in Vietnam with a reconnaissance platoon. It is well written and describes everything the young diggers go through beautifully, and you feel like the author takes you with him on patrol and everywhere else he goes. It is also a sad story as he tells about lives lost and ruined by the war. What also makes the story unique is the story of the veterans and how they start to recover after struggling with what they went through in Vietnam.

I have now read all of Peter Haran's books in his Vietnam trilogy and this one is my second favorite after Trackers and all three are highly recommended.

[Peter Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is remarkable work written by two Vietnam veterans. Consolidating three facets, 2000 and two components from 1967/67.

War does not stop for those involved in the conflict, it continues forever. The ancient Greeks wrote of such, and today thankfully, it is more spoken about and recognized in our society than when Australian veterans returned from the conflicts of the Boer war through to the Malaya emergency and indeed Vietnam.

Those who went to the Boer, WW1, WW2, Korea, Malaya and Vietnam returned to a society mostly unable to comprehend or discuss what came home with the women and men who served our country, be they physical, mental or a combination of both forms of wounds.

This work focuses on two main elements, the 12 months following the deployment of the first two Australian two battalions, 5RAR and 6RAR, into our first province of accountability, Phuoc Tuy, in April 1966. Secondly, it covers extracts from the 2000's, as veterans take part in a self-help program called the "Trojans Treck" in the Flinders Rangers, South Australia. Each chapter comprises experience from the treck, Army intelligence (ITSUM) from the days of the events in Vietnam, and 1st hand experiences of those days by men of Australia's first army reconnaissance unit formed in Vietnam in 1966.

As the 5RAR and 6RAR were deployed into Phuoc Tuy province the communist forces in the area were very well established and in trenched, with the 275 NVA regiment mostly in the surrounding hills and the D445 VC Battalion in the province general. Both forces comprised dedicated and battle experienced troops trained in formal combat capability, NVA, and in guerrilla tactics VC.

The work tracks the arrival of the Australians and the establishment of the reconnaissance unit, continuing throughout their tour of duty which coincided with the establishment of the Nui Dat task force base, the Battle of Long Tan, the disastrous decision and execution of the M16 minefield and barrier fence, the Battle of Ap My An and the many, many weeks and months spent in the Long Hais and Nui Thi Val hills on constant and relentless patrolling.

It is a work of immense value. Whilst it could be hard to find, I wholly recommend doing so, as to this reader it is one of the most important and definitive works regarding the establishment and operations of the recognisance teams engaged in Vietnam.

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an outstanding story, not because of the quality of its prose or the importance of its content but for its authenticity. The details could only have been recorded by a frontline infantry soldier who served there and the snippets of conversation and the recounted incidents are so uniquely those of the Australian digger. Once exposed to all of that in the potent stew of frontline service it is never lost nor forgotten. It always comes immediately to the fore when're two or more of us gather. For many a harking back to a time when no matter how grim the circumstances the depth and strength of the bonds that formed were real in a way that nothing since has ever approximated i any way. The book took me back to my own service there, providing many a giggle and evoking some very poignant memories. It was passed to me by a mate who served in Iraq, a great read for anyone and one that will be greatly enjoyed by any combat veteran, they will relate immediately.

[Rodger Pettichord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being there

This book joins a distinguished library of personal accounts of service in the Viet Nam war. It is you-are-there real, but at the same time steps back to place the events in the larger context of the post-war lives of those who served. The war stories are very well told, and the post-war stories are very moving. Well worth the reading.

[Geoff Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having spent a week on Trek with Dogs surely brought this book to life. His voice can be heard in the narrative. It’s a glimpse into a soldier’s mind whist service in Vietnam. Not in any way overwritten but very descriptive.

[Campbell Mcaulay · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1966 Robert "Dogs" Kearney travelled to Viet Nam with the Royal Australian Regiment, a largely conscripted unit of National Servicemen ("Nashos"). The Australian Task Force was deployed in the south of the country and operated more or less independently against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Kearney eventually joined the recconnaisance platoon and, with his mates, operated deep in the jungle in uncomfortable and frequently hair-raising conditions.

I wonder how many people realise that the Australians actually fought in this squalid, controversial war. It may well have been a small part, but they were in it from the start to (more or less) the finish and were much respected by their American allies and their Vietnamese opponents*. One particularly gutty battle (The Battle of Long Tan) between a heavily outnumbered Aussie unit and an entire NVA regiment has since passed into folklore as the diggers' version of Rorke's Drift.

Crossfire, co-written by Kearney and Peter Haran (another Viet Nam veteran) is a deeply personal account of the Australian involvement in the war. Written with honesty and candour and in the vernacular of the stereotypical Aussie soldier, it pulls no punches about the nastiness of the war - the conditions in which the diggers lived and fought and the no-holds-barred, no-prisoners-taken battles that they fought. Just as it should be, it is a view from behind the sights of an Owen gun. There is only the barest of context - each chapter begins with a short exerpt from a contemporary Intelligence Summary (INTSUM) report. Kearney and Haran describe not only the fighting, but the muddy boredom of life in a jungle forward operating base and the occasional jaunt to town to drink, whore and fight.

An absorbing account; perhaps even an important book for anyone interested in the VietNam war or the history of the Australian Army. Well worth a read.

The Kindle edition is fine but with the usual occasional proof reading failure. There are a number of b&w photos at the back which have reproduced fairly well. The map at the front is, however, illegible.

"You couldn't see mines, there was no warning. The M16 American-designed `jumping jack' ... You trod on it and heard a click -- the most horrifying sound in the world. You lifted your foot and the main charge sprang from the ground and exploded at waist height. What wonderful mind sat in some military laboratory and dreamt up that obscenity?"

* In the words of a Viet Cong soldier "The Americans style was to hit us, then call for planes and artillery. Our response was to break contact and disappear if we could...The Australians were more patient than the Americans, better guerilla fighters, better at ambushes. They liked to stay with us instead of calling in the planes. We were more afraid of their style"

[Dubaruzal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent insight into the Australian soldier during the Vietnam War, told in a very up-front way. Now I know why my Dad doesn't talk about it much. My thanks go to the authors for taking the time and effort to publish their stories.

[David Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very involving book. It is a heartfelt series of anecdotes from a young corporal's Vietnam War experiences. Some parts are quite harrowing. Other parts bring out the quirky Aussie soldier's humour in the face of adversity. I found it hard to put down.

[Kevin Greenhalgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haran does a great job of getting the balance right with a book that conveys the horror and fear as well as the humour and close friendship of combat. A must read for combat history reader...

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. A bit slow in places and could do with some polishing.