Team 19 in Vietnam: An Australian Soldier at War

Description

An Australian Army veteran offers a rare glimpse into the multi-national operations of the Vietnam War in this vivid and thoroughly researched memoir. In Team 19 in Vietnam, David Millie offers an insightful account of his twelve-month tour with the renowned Australian Army Training Team Vietnam in Quang Tri Province—a crucial tactical site along the demilitarized zone that was North Vietnam's gateway to the south. This firsthand narrative vividly demonstrates the importance of the region and the substantial number of forces engaged there. Drawing from published and unpublished military documents, his personal diary, and the letters he wrote while deployed, Millie introduces readers to the daily routines, actions, and disappointments of a field staff officer. Millie also discusses his interactions with province senior advisor Colonel Harley F. Mooney and Major John Shalikashvili, who would later become chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Few Australian accounts of the Vietnam War exist, and Millie offers a fresh perspective on the year after the Tet offensive. He contends that responsibility for the catastrophe inflicted on Vietnamese civilians is shared by an international community that failed to act effectively in the face of a crisis.