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xiii Foreword The western democracies began to use military advisors to impede the militant spread of communism shortly after World War II ended. It wasn’t long after the French departed from Indochina that the effort began in South Vietnam. The United States took the lead, but the Australian Army started to send advisors in the earliest days and was steadfast in its support of the advisory effort throughout the period of deployments by their units that paralleled the buildup of American units. From the outset, Australian officers and warrant officers were welcome in advisory teams at every level. Many had experience in Malaya or New Guinea, and all were outstanding professionals with excellent tactical acumen. This memoir by then-Major David Millie presents the complexity of the advisory effort as it had evolved by 1968. I was an advisor in 1963, serving initially in a small team advising at the district level —the same sort of job Major Millie had when he arrived five years later. I served much farther south—he was in the northern reaches of South Vietnam—but there were plenty of similarities between our experiences. He captures the importance of establishing sound relations with counterparts, seriously studying the potential for difficulties before a crisis arrives, and the need for high standards of performance at every level in an organization—enduring challenges in any advisory effort that will be familiar to soldiers engaged in similar work today. But there are important differences. Because he was near the demilitarized zone, he worked in an operational area where the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Army, and the Army of South Vietnam were all engaged in conventional operations. At the same time the marines were embedding small teams of infantry with the local defense forces that Major Millie advised. Most advisors did not encounter so much complexity, but Millie’s account analyzes advantages and challenges associated with the reality he faced. Only a few names in this story will resonate with today’s readers —not because they don’t know very many Australians, but because most soldiers live, fight, and die in obscurity—whether Vietnamese, American, or Australian. This memoir helps rescue the work of a vast number of dedicated soldiers from that obscurity xiv Foreword while reminding us that these events happened long ago: one name familiar to most of us is Major John Shalikashvili, who later served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The stories of these men and their work have an enduring appeal, and they are well told in this account. This memoir resonates with me because it reinforces my strongly held view that soldiers in a democracy find the payoff of their hard—often dangerous—service in knowing that what they do has been done to the best of their ability. They can find fulfillment in that knowledge, no matter what may occur at levels far above their arena of action. General Gordon R. Sullivan, USA (Ret.) ...

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