Vietnam War and RAAF

[Name of the course]

Vietnam War and RAAF

Introduction

Australia has a long history of combined warfare campaigns and time and again it has contributed to such wars with its Royal Forces. When America took the decision of conducting a war in Vietnam, the Australian government gave out its word to support the American government against their stance for the country, which was initially just the deployment of military advisors in the area in the form of teams to hold any intervention if required. In the year 1962, 26th July, an announcement was given out by the then Minister of Defence. The announcement gave out the news that 30 Australian instructors would be deployed in Vietnam out of which 22 were to serve in an area bearing the name Hue, 4 to the military aid sector (MACV) in the area of Saigon and last 4 were to be deployed in Duc My.

The team was under the command of a serving Colonel, who had extensive training in commanding Army units and the forces landed on the land of Vietnam in August. As the time passed, the number of the forces increased going to a maximum of 7,672 military personnel deployed on station. The Royal Forces served their longest duration in the war of Vietnam and along with other forces; the Royal Air Force played an integral role in the joint warfare.

Discussion

As per the foreign policy of the Australian government that supported America in its war against Vietnam, it was obligatory for the Australian government so send its forces on the Vietnamese ground when and where required. In the year 1966, the then Prime Minister Menzies decided to send all three kinds of Royal Forces to the Vietnamese war ground to play its role in support with America.

Role of RAAF in Vietnam War

As the paper sheds focus on the role of the Australian Air Force in the war of Vietnam and the hurdles it faced, let us bring that into discussion. In 1964, the first flight of Royal Air Force was sent to Vung Tau. Their task was to keep a check and balance and help the 1 RAR in any assistance that they required. Due to lack of military personnel, it was made mandatory for every 20 year old to serve duration in the Australian forces to show their solidarity to the country and its allies. As a result, the RAAF services were also expanded.

As new units were stationed in the area; 1 ALSG and 1 ATF in the year 1966, a squad of helicopters namely 9 Squad was stationed along with them in order to take care of their logistics requirements and the movement of troop. Other than that they squad was also responsible for the medical transportation of the soldiers to the make shift medical centres by the Australian forces.

As far as these particular services of the RAAF were concerned, they did not have a major impact on the war itself other than the help ...