With warmth, Norm
Prelude to Chapter 13
Here’s a question: How many true friends does one make in a two year army career? For some people, lifelong friendships are formed. For me, the answer is, none. In all, I made two good mates, a few other mates, and several acquaintances with whom I could be comfortable.
This is partly due to my lack of social skills with my peers, due to the circumstances of my upbringing, and including the fact that I did not share many of the school experiences of my fellows, including sports and school cadets. The other part is that, in my two years, I moved (as most of us did) through a range of different experiences and environments.
At Kapooka, during my three months of recruit training[1], I was one of 56 first intake National Servicemen, in 20 Platoon, E Company 1 RTB (Recruit Training Battalion). Our instructors consisted of a Lieutenant (who had a big dog), a sergeant, four corporals and two lance corporals. There were only two people in my Kapooka platoon with whom I felt reasonably at ease – Ken Wallace and Ken Tronc. They were both in the 12 people in my hut. I knew the other people in my hut, and had some contact with others in the platoon.
When we were allocated for infantry corps training, I became part of D Company, 6 RAR. Of the 56 National Servicemen in my Kapooka platoon, only five of us went to a platoon of D Company at Enoggera Army Barracks in Brisbane - me, Ken Wallace (the only one who had been in my hut at Kapooka), Eddie Williams, and Barry Vasella.
In early March 1966, half of us were transferred into C Company, which had until then comprised only Regular soldiers, whereas D Company had only National Servicemen, apart from the officers. Barry Vasella stayed with D Company, which left just four of us who had been together since entering the army.
Not surprisingly, my time in C Company is, for me, the most remembered part of my army career, because these are the people with whom I served in South Vietnam.
At Enoggera, I was in 7 Platoon, and shared a hut with three other men (we were probably to this hut in alphabetical order, because our names were: Ken Wallace, Norm Wallace, Bill Winterford and Norm Wotherspoon).
Three of us, Ken and Bill and I, became close mates, with Ken the leader, Bill the comedian, and me the follower. We stuck together in our training; went drinking together; and shared many late night meals at the Night Owl café in Petrie Terrace. (This is in addition to the other information I gave in Chapter 11).
I also referred to the fact that Bill and I were on unfriendly terms when we departed for Vietnam, due to his suspecting me of making romantic approaches to his girlfriend Jacqueline (I think I gave the wrong name in Chapter 11 – it was Jacqueline, folks, not Joanne).
My Company was one of four rifle companies which formed part of VI Battalion (RAR)[2]. An infantry battalion at full strength contains nearly 800 men and women (in my time I think our battalion was an all-male unit), of whom approximately 300 are in Battalion Headquarters (HQ), with another 492 allocated to four rifle companies, A, B, C and D.
Our Battalion Total Strength consisted of nearly 40 officers and 750 Other Ranks[3]
Each rifle company had a total strength of 123 men consisting of:
Company HQ - 2 officers - Major and Captain) and 13 Other Ranks[4]
Support Section - 6 Other Ranks
Three Rifle Platoons, each comprising:
Platoon HQ – Platoon Commander (2nd Lieutenant) Sergeant, Signaller[5], Orderly
Three Rifle Sections, each of 10 Other Ranks (1 Corporal, I Lance Corporal, 8 Privates). The 8 privates included – 2 Forward Scouts, 4 Riflemen, and the 2 members of the Machine Gun Team. Most ORs carried SLRs (Self Loading Rifles) when we first arrived in Vietnam, but these were upgraded to the lighter American Armalites quite soon after our arrival. As platoon signaller I carried a 9 millimetre Browning pistol (as compensation for the extra weight of the signal set and spare batteries).
I had shown high aptitude in the role of platoon signaller, so that became my role. Bill became the machine gunner in a rifle section, and Ken became a forward scout.
To return to the question with which I started this section, I did not have the time to form forever friendships in my two years in the army. I had three months at Kapooka, followed by five months corps training in D Company, a further three months training in 7 Platoon, C Company, and then we were away to Vietnam. In Vietnam, I spent 2 months in 7 Platoon, 5 months in Company Headquarters, and the final three months in 9 Platoon.
The only people I got to know really well were Ken Wallace and Bill Winterford, and future circumstances meant that those friendships did not progress much after my discharge. There were other brief closenesses I shared with a few people, but most of these were ended through death or injury.
With everyone else, I shared a camaraderie with a small group of people who relied on each other for survival. When we were not out on patrols and operations, we all took our turns at protecting the perimeter, and we had no one else, except our hundred selves, to spend our limited relaxation time with (which usually meant a few drinks in the bar tent, (aka boozer), or friendly (?) poker games in our tents.
When I was in 7 Platoon, my world was limited to the other 30 men; in Company Headquarters, I worked and socialised with the 20 other privates there; when I moved to 9 Platoon, it was just me and those other 30 men. That’s just the way it was, and probably still is, in an army in a war zone. You can never stray far from your own operational team, because you never know when you might have to saddle up for the next urgent patrol or operation.
All in all, I got to know perhaps 200 people in the army, about half of them reasonably well. Perhaps a dozen, in total, I could say I knew very well, for a time. Over the past ten years I have come to know some of the ex-members of C Company much better, but that is a story for a future chapter.
[1] June 1965 to September 1965
[2] RAR = Royal Australian Regiment
[3] Other Ranks included: Regimental Sergeant Major, Company Sergeant Majors, Sergeants, Corporals and Lance Corporals, and Privates.
[4] In my role as orderly to the Company 2IC, I was one of this number.
[5] This was my role in 7 Platoon at first, then in 9 Platoon for the last part of my tour.
