On Patrol with the SAS takes the reader into the heart and soul of the men of the Australian Army's Special Air Services Regiment. It provides a clear insight into the rigours of the SAS selection process, training for war in Papua New Guinea, then in graphic and sometimes raw and brutal detail into combat behind enemy lines in Borneo and South Viet Nam.'It is an engrossing soldier's story. One in which the qualities of the men, their mental, physical and psychological tou...

On Friday 8th March 1968, 20-year-old Gary McKay lost the lottery. He was conscripted.From a comfortable and carefree life of surfing and rugby football, he was drafted into the deadly serious preparation for war in the jungles of South Vietnam.In Good Company is his story told in his own words. It begins with induction and selection for the officer academy for national servicemen at Scheyville, a six-month 'pressure cooker' course which produced second lieutenants...

Thirty years ago, on Christmas Day 1974, Australia woke up to the news that Darwin had been devastated by Cyclone Tracy.Only hours before, the town of Darwin was winding down for the holiday season. Like many people that day, Josephine Foreman spent the morning cooking a large turkey for Christmas lunch; Geoff Crane took the opportunity to finish some last-minute Christmas shopping. Reports of an approaching cyclone were taken lightly-after all, the last cyclone had been l...

'What I thought I knew about the Viet Nam War didn't even come close to scratching the surface of what the Viet Nam experience really was all about for my father and his fellow veterans After going to Viet Nam with him, I felt I finally understood him a little better' - Kelly McKayGoing Back is a detailed and highly personal collection of the experiences of Australian Viet Nam War veterans as they journey back to the land where they once fought and lost their innocence. Ve...

Being there 30 years on, standing on the fields of conflict, it all came rushing back. The good bits and the bad bits. But it left me with a feeling of comradeship and pride. I was glad that I made the journey.In 1971 Gary McKay was an Australian platoon commander in what was then South Vietnam and was seriously wounded in one of Australia's major battles of the Vietnam War. In 2002 he returned to Vietnam and retraced the steps of the men who had gone before and after him,...

At 12.32 a.m. on Friday 23 June 2000, the Childers auxiliary brigade received a 000 call saying that the Palace Backpacker Hostel at 72 Churchill Street was on fire . . . The first truck pulled up in front of the hostel five minutes after the fire call was sent. It was a dramatic scene. Occupants were streaming out of the burning building, and the Childers crew were facing a big fire with limited resources.Firefighters takes an unflinching look at what it means to...

Bob McTaggart returns from a tour of duty with his special forces unit in Afghanistan and his world is turned upside down. He tries to put his life back on an even keel only to find himself dangerously involved in the dirty and deadly world of drug trafficking. McTaggart has to rely on all of his sharply honed skills to survive in the tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland and on the Great Barrier Reef. The prize is worth millions, but the deceit, betrayal and uncompromising greed by...

Platoon Sergeant Bob Buick - decorated with the Military Medal for bravery for his actions during the Battle of Long Tan - tells in vivid and enthralling detail the story of his tour of Viet Nam. It culminates in the most famous battle involving Australian Diggers in the Viet Nam War, in which thirteen of Buick's men were killed and the remainder survived against overwhelming odds.All Guts and No Glory is a no-pulled-punches account, covering all the major actions Buick's ...

Take a journey back to the front line with two Australian veterans as they retrace the footsteps of soldiers and politicians, villagers and the enemy in a meticulously researched new history of the Vietnam War.For Australians, Vietnam remains one of most difficult - and controversial - wars we have fought. On the fiftieth anniversary of Australia's first involvement comes Vietnam: The Complete Story of the Australian War, for anyone who wishes to understan...

A brutally honest account of Australian armour crewmen in action in Vietnam.What was it like to sit in the drivers' and gunners' seats of the Australian tanks and armoured personnel carriers that fought in the Vietnam War? Jungle Tracks takes us into the thick of the battles, the ambushes and the horrendous mine incidents that claimed the lives of so many Australian soldiers.Veterans of the Armoured Corps share their experiences of fighting in the ...

Early in the Vietnam War the South Vietnamese government appealed to the United States and its allies, including Australia, for desperately needed medical help. Most of the country's doctors had been conscripted into the army and the civilian population was facing a medical crisis.From October 1964 until the end of 1972 over 450 surgeons, nurses and other medical specialists from Australian hospitals volunteered to work in South Vietnam. In the towns of Long Xuyen, Bien Hoa, Vung T...

The first Australians committed to serve in Viet Nam were a group of military instructors known as the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. Their initial role: to assist in the training of the ground forces of South Viet Nam. But battalion battles and artillery duels, the relief of besieged camps, and mobile strike forces became part of the mosaic that saw this curiously named unit forge a distinct chapter in Australia's military history. The Men Who Persevered is the story of t...