In Vietnam, the plan was to get an Australian officer as the Operations Adviser in Phuoc Tuy Province, where the 1st Australian Task Force would be going, attached to US Advisory Team 89. The idea was to be able to provide better information from the rest of the province. So 1ATF had the tactical area of responsibility and I had everything outside that.

When I was there, we had an estimated 23 per cent Viet Cong within the South Vietnamese Army. On an operation, they could shoot you to get the reward. I had a reward on my head, dead or alive, because, as the Ops Adviser, I was responsible for getting a lot of them killed. You had to get on with it.