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Trackers
Trackers is a gritty and moving story that reveals the Australian Army's little known use of combat tracker dogs during the Vietnam War. A war veteran tells his story with vivid and compelling immediacy, blending the terror of hunting and encountering the elusive Vietcong with the tender relationship between a naive young Australian soldier and his larrikin labrador-kelpie cross, Caesar.
212 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2001
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153 people want to read
About the author
Peter Haran
5 booksPeter 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 11, 2016
After reading Always Faithful by William Putney I was looking for another similar book and found Trackers. Along with Putney's Always Faithful, this is now one of my all time favourite books, and one of the greatest war memoirs in my opinion. Haran tells his and the war dogs of the Australian Army's story beautifully. He never goes deep into the horrors of the war in Vietnam and instead focusses on his thoughts and his bond with Ceasar and what they went through together. It is also heart-breaking that they had to leave behind the dogs when they left and in the end he can only tell where the dogs went after the military left and in my mind I like to think that they lived out their days in happiness. The book is also interesting in the extent in which the Australian military was involved in Vietnam. Great book as it only took me a day to read it.
August 29, 2021
Very good book written at a personal level that makes you feel like you are there. Not a big book, and you want to keep reading to make it through with him through his tour. Nice pictures too.
Makes you wonder what the dog was thinking. Dogs seem to just except whatever now they are handed, and are happiest when they are on task. Every dog is great, the dog Caesar in the book was exceptional. I see the book as a tribute to that dog and every dog and person who fought.
Makes you wonder what the dog was thinking. Dogs seem to just except whatever now they are handed, and are happiest when they are on task. Every dog is great, the dog Caesar in the book was exceptional. I see the book as a tribute to that dog and every dog and person who fought.
November 26, 2017
This is of the many small, personal stories from the Vietnam war, told by the person who lived the story. At the same time, it is a fascinating glimpse at the little known -and perhaps not as well recognised as it should be- use of combat tracker dogs by the Australian Army in Vietnam.
The author joined the Army and as a eighteen year old, in 1966, finished with basic training he volunteered to join the Tracking unit where dogs and their handlers were trained to track. The story is largely his journey and his experiences, training, in Vietnam and a short very heartfelt epilogue about what life after the war was like for some of the returning soldiers.
I found the reading experience excellent, it took me a while to get into it, because the narrative jumps around a little, from the 'present' or timeline narrative as Peter is trained, ships over, and comes home to the inserts. The inserts are in a different font and describe events in Vietnam isolated from the narrative. It took me a while to get used to the back and forth of this narrative style, but I had it under control by about page 50. The different sections end up being very effective, they allow Peter to tell his story in a way that is down to earth, very non-judgmental and successfully gritty without gratuitous violence. All of which are pretty hard lines to walk with any war book but especially about the Vietnam war.
Early on we are introduced to the hero of the story, almost at times to co-author or co-narrator, Ceasar. This Labrador cross was apparently one of the stars of the eleven tracker dogs and Peter's own partner for the whole of his tour of duty. It is fascinating watching the working relationship between the man and dog, it was very interesting reading about some of the other teams and their integration in the Army units.
In some ways, I found Trackers to be one of the most humanising personal stories about the Vietnam war that I have read. First because of the dogs, I really like dogs and having them, their roles and army life as a focus made it very socialised. Also, the differential timeline interspersed with war events, that made the minutiae of everyday living and personal experience vivid and real.
The small epilogue (one might almost call it an aftermath) gives a moving, intensely sad depiction of the trouble Vietnam vets had in returning to Australia, the public apathy to their experience, the lack of support systems, the isolation, which is one of the more shameful parts of Australian history.
The usual post war experience was compounded in this case by having had to leave 'his' dog, behind, handing Ceasar over to another handler at the end of his tour of duty. None of the war dogs returned to Australia though they were found good homes in Vietnam when they reached the end of their active service.
Thoroughly recommend this this book!
The author joined the Army and as a eighteen year old, in 1966, finished with basic training he volunteered to join the Tracking unit where dogs and their handlers were trained to track. The story is largely his journey and his experiences, training, in Vietnam and a short very heartfelt epilogue about what life after the war was like for some of the returning soldiers.
I found the reading experience excellent, it took me a while to get into it, because the narrative jumps around a little, from the 'present' or timeline narrative as Peter is trained, ships over, and comes home to the inserts. The inserts are in a different font and describe events in Vietnam isolated from the narrative. It took me a while to get used to the back and forth of this narrative style, but I had it under control by about page 50. The different sections end up being very effective, they allow Peter to tell his story in a way that is down to earth, very non-judgmental and successfully gritty without gratuitous violence. All of which are pretty hard lines to walk with any war book but especially about the Vietnam war.
Early on we are introduced to the hero of the story, almost at times to co-author or co-narrator, Ceasar. This Labrador cross was apparently one of the stars of the eleven tracker dogs and Peter's own partner for the whole of his tour of duty. It is fascinating watching the working relationship between the man and dog, it was very interesting reading about some of the other teams and their integration in the Army units.
In some ways, I found Trackers to be one of the most humanising personal stories about the Vietnam war that I have read. First because of the dogs, I really like dogs and having them, their roles and army life as a focus made it very socialised. Also, the differential timeline interspersed with war events, that made the minutiae of everyday living and personal experience vivid and real.
The small epilogue (one might almost call it an aftermath) gives a moving, intensely sad depiction of the trouble Vietnam vets had in returning to Australia, the public apathy to their experience, the lack of support systems, the isolation, which is one of the more shameful parts of Australian history.
The usual post war experience was compounded in this case by having had to leave 'his' dog, behind, handing Ceasar over to another handler at the end of his tour of duty. None of the war dogs returned to Australia though they were found good homes in Vietnam when they reached the end of their active service.
Thoroughly recommend this this book!
December 23, 2008
This is an extraordinary book, highlighting the work of the tracker dogs in the Australian Army during the Vietnam war, from the perspective of one of the handlers, author Peter Haran. The courage and loyalty of the dogs stands in sharp contrast to the short-sightedness of the military, and its refusal to bring the dogs home as Australia pulled out of the conflict.
December 11, 2014
Not a bad story, well written and easy to read. it's sad that the dogs never got returned to Australia with the soldiers. Peter and his fellow soldiers deserve praise and recognition for what they did.
May 28, 2013
The book I read to research this post was Trackers by Peter Haran which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book was a bit of a surprise hit in Australia and Peter has written other books about his experiences in Vietnam since. I did review some of his other books quite some time ago & you should be able to find them at http://scratbagdave.com
This book is about his work in the Vietnam War working in the Australian SAS as a tracker with 2 tracker dogs although he worked with them separately. The dogs were trained at an army base in South Australia & they only used Labradors & Labrador Crosses. They were used to track people, sniff out explosives and find trip wires. They used human trackers in addition to the dogs if they were looking for someone. The soldiers did a 12 month tour of duty but one dog had to 3 years. They didn't bother taking them back to Australia due to the quarantine rules. They soldiers often offered to pay the dogs expenses if they could take them back home but it was refused. One dog in particular had shell shock and had to be retired. At the end of the war the dogs were given to the Vietnamese Army. I enjoyed reading this book and also his other books are worth reading.
This book is about his work in the Vietnam War working in the Australian SAS as a tracker with 2 tracker dogs although he worked with them separately. The dogs were trained at an army base in South Australia & they only used Labradors & Labrador Crosses. They were used to track people, sniff out explosives and find trip wires. They used human trackers in addition to the dogs if they were looking for someone. The soldiers did a 12 month tour of duty but one dog had to 3 years. They didn't bother taking them back to Australia due to the quarantine rules. They soldiers often offered to pay the dogs expenses if they could take them back home but it was refused. One dog in particular had shell shock and had to be retired. At the end of the war the dogs were given to the Vietnamese Army. I enjoyed reading this book and also his other books are worth reading.
August 10, 2012
An unusual book on the Vietnam war since it deals with tracker dogs and their handlers. In early 1967 I was stationed in Long Khan province with the 9th Infantry. The border province was Phuoc Tuy in which the majority of this book takes place. We ran some joint ops with the Australian infantry, and both our units ran dog teams. I must say, I always felt better going out on missions with dogs than just relying on human ears and noses. Can't say how many times the dogs saved us from getting our lunch handed to us.
February 9, 2024
SAD STORY - FOUR FOOTED HEROS, WARRIORS
A typical soldiers story told in the language of men who been to war but the author tries to disguise his broken heart over leaving his warrior friend dog, Caesar, behind. He tries to disguise the pain but, because I too have been there, different war different animals, he cannot fool me…..
A good read, sad ending.
A typical soldiers story told in the language of men who been to war but the author tries to disguise his broken heart over leaving his warrior friend dog, Caesar, behind. He tries to disguise the pain but, because I too have been there, different war different animals, he cannot fool me…..
A good read, sad ending.
January 25, 2022
A bit all over the place, but still; dogs..
July 25, 2023
Wowee, it didn't take me long to read this book. I was captivated from the first sentence. Written by his own experiences serving in the Vietnam War.
September 18, 2016
I discovered this book through Hello Internet podcast, which is co-hosted by Brady, Peter's son. What I like the most about this book is its deeply personal feeling. I felt in front of me was not a professionally written and polished book but rather an old man recounting from his broken memory. Peter is a great story teller and I followed the stories of him and his dog, Caesar with captivation. As a Vietnamese whose grandfather fought on the other side of this war, Peter's stories put the human faces to be understood and sympathized to the people whom I was indoctrinated simply as "the enemy."
March 21, 2014
This book made me feel uneasy and nauseous in a way that no other biography of war has. I would highly recommend it to everyone I know, however I would also advise to proceed with caution, as it's a gut-wrencher.
November 10, 2015
Super good read
This book is written by an Australian soldier who served with a Tracker dog named Marcus. Another angle to a stupid "war" similar to the stupid ones we are in now, sigh, "Those who ignore the past mistakes are doomed to repeat them".
This book is written by an Australian soldier who served with a Tracker dog named Marcus. Another angle to a stupid "war" similar to the stupid ones we are in now, sigh, "Those who ignore the past mistakes are doomed to repeat them".
May 8, 2012
BEST BOOK EVER LOVED IT
January 9, 2013
I was incredibly touched by this well written true story. I could not put the book down.
June 1, 2014
Such an amazing book, really takes you in and feels like you are there. If you are dog lover you will be moved to tears.
All his books are worth a read
All his books are worth a read
July 3, 2014
While I only read it in the Readers' Digest abridged version, I was totally amazed. It's the first I'd ever heard of these dogs of war, and it made for fascinating reading.
August 3, 2022
Great Book!
December 8, 2015
Another important recollection of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. Must read!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews