Review by Will Chabun
First, a few words about the two nouns in the first half of this book’s
title. Bird dogs, of course, are the light aircraft that western armies have
used since the Second World War to “spot“ for artillery and fighter aircraft.
“Possum’ was the radio call sign allocated to the Australian Army’s 161 Reconnaissance
Flight in 1965 after the Australian government decided to send an infantry
battalion, plus supporting elements, to Vietnam to support the Americans there.
161 RF consisted of two Bell Sioux helicopters (known as the OH-13 to our
American friends or the Bell 47 in civilian service) and a pair of Cessna 180
light aircraft that would not look out of place at any civilian airport in
North America.
The job of them and their pilots was to take a look at what was over the
horizon and to carry personnel, small bits of freight and to evacuate
casualties, sometimes under fire.
This book, written by an RAAF sergeant who served with the flight form
1967-68, goes into the 1,001 decisions that must be taken to put in place a unit’s
maintenance and supply system, to provide accommodations and meals for its
personnel, and then to keep them content and motivated.
The author also does a good job of sketching out how Australia --- Canada’s
closest Commonwealth sibling in population -- found itself fighting in Vietnam.
Australia head a real scare in 1942, when the war was brought to its
front porch by extremely rapid Japanese advances through the south Pacific. Britain, already heavily committed elsewhere,
had to shrug helplessly at Australia -- which them tied its security to that of
the United States. At that, there were Japanese air and naval raids on
Australia and a vicious six-month land campaign along the Kokoda Trail in the
island of New Guinea.
A decade later, Australia found itself heavily involved in war against
communist guerillas in Malaya. And after that was won, there was a new threat
from Indonesia, which looked to squeeze Malaysia out of existence and
potentially threaten Australia. The domino theory so beloved of American
strategists thus must have looked very, very real to Australian politicians and
senior civil servants around 1965. As a result, Australia agreed to send an
infantry battalion to Vietnam, where it initially operated as an arm of the US
Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade.
It was at this point that the 161 Reconnaissance Flight headed to
Vietnam. As the Australian task force grew to two and then three infantry battalions,
more and more army aviation resources were brought in.
Based on their experience in Malaya, the Australians saw a guerilla war
somewhat differently from American military leadership. The US approach under General
William Westmoreland was to seek a war of attrition, grinding down the Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese army by inflicting huge casualties. The Australian
approach was built around separating the insurgents from the local population,
which then would be given medical care, schools and economic development. The
American approach would not change until Westmoreland went home around 1968 and
General Creighton Abrams took over as American commander.
That is not to say that that lower-level Australian and American
servicemen did not get along. The Americans valued the Australians’
professionalism and the Australians could not get enough of the amazing American
supply system, which was shared freely with allies like the Australians. Over
and over in this book, there are stories of Americans giving the Australians
equipment on the strength of nothing more than a scribbled signature.
The Australian task force begin reducing its numbers and heading home in
1971. Through the narrative there is a feeling this were could go on for
decades and decades without a resolution. 161 Recce Flight lost three members,
all pilots. About 60,000 Australians served in the war;
521 were killed and more than 3,000 wounded.
As a postscript, one is moved to say that Australia takes defence great
deal more seriously than does Canada. On a smaller population base, Australia today
has considerably larger armed services with equipment like helicopter gunships
and fifth-generation jet fighters.
For further reading:
The Australia’s
Vietnam War website was created by the Military Operations Analysis Team
(MOAT) at the University of New South Wales (Canberra).
