In 1962, the Australian Government deployed military forces in support of the Republic of Vietnam. In ensuing years, this commitment expanded from an initial advisory team, to a battalion group, to a large taskforce of thousands of personnel. But despite the length and intensity of this war, and the scale of the Australian commitment, there was no holistic study of how Australian Army logistics operated during the war until recently. Based on Ian Finlayson’s groundbreaking research, this presentation will examine the Army’s ad hoc approach to supporting its deployed forces, which was based on erroneous assumptions about the level of United States Army support, and a cultural indifference to the logistic profession. The resulting Australian logistic structures were severely tested after the 1968 Tet offensive, when the 1st Australian Logistic Support Group at Vung Tau was required to adapt from a static model of replenishment to one supporting airmobile operations outside of Phuc Tuy Province. The presentation will conclude with the lessons the conflict has for present-day Australian Army logistic planners.

About the speaker

Major Ian Finlayson (ret’d) graduated from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea, in 1978. His initial postings included nearly 20 years of staff and regimental logistic appointments. He was the Chief of the Defence Force Fellow in 1997 and graduated from Army’s Command and Staff College, Queenscliff, in 1998. Ian served as a Staff Officer in the Australian High Commission, London, from 2003 until 2006 and in 2008-09 he was the principal logistics officer in the Headquarters of the International Stabilisation Force, East Timor. Ian transferred to the Army History Unit as a reservist in 2015, and has continued there as a volunteer there post-retirement.

This is a hybrid seminar. Zoom details will be sent upon registration.

Image credit: Australian Army Vessel Clive Steele disgorging a mobile carne at a beach near Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, October 1969. (AWM COM/69/0729/VN)

Additional information:

Registration is required for this event. Accessible parking spaces are available around campus should you require them.

TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University) | CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C

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Contact the host of Sustaining the Commitment: Australian Army Logistics in South Vietnam, 1962–1973