6 RAR -The Sixth Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) DUTY FIRST

                    1st Tour 1 Apr 66 - 7 Jul 67

 

            Training For War

Brisbane To Nui Dat - Operation "Hardihood"

6 RAR Operations 21 June 66 - 16 Apr 67

Supporting the Battalion

Supporting Arms

6 RAR Honour Roll - 1st Tour

INTRODUCTION

The Sixth Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, was raised on 6th June 1965, at Alamein Barracks, Enoggera, Brisbane. No one at that time envisaged that the first anniversary would be celebrated at Vung Tau, South Vietnam, prior to the Battalion's deploying into the Baria area of Phuoc Tuy Province, as the second infantry battalion of the First Australian Task Force.

Initially the Battalion consisted of a nucleus command structureof officers and noncommissioned officers, two rifle companies (B and C) and some specialist appointments. The majority of the soldiers were not to arrive until September 1965. It was at this time that a large batch of National Servicemen of the first NS intake arrived from recruit training at Kapooka. Until November 1965, the emphasis was on basic infantry corps training, the foundation upon which is built the specialised training for tropical warfare; ensuring that section and platoon drills become second nature.

TRAINING FOR WAR

After November 1965, rumours of service in Vietnam a frequent topic of conversation. No sooner had the Battalion returned from Christmas leave than the rumours were scotched; all members were warned that the Battalion was to be prepared in all respects, After November 1965, rumours were rife, and the prospects and ready to move to Vietnam by 26th May1966.

The tempo of training was increased; wives, mothers and girlfriends became very conscious of the demands the Army made on their menfolk in the Battalion. Their support and understanding did much to lessen the arduous tasks set for the Battalion, as it strived to become operationally prepared.Weapon handling, exercises, battle inoculation, and many other aspects of training were the order of each laborious day.Training also spelt travel, the Battalion going to such training areas as Spring Mountain, Levers Plateau, Tin Can Bay, Kenilworth State Forest, Canungra, Wiangaree and Shoalwater Bay, to achieve the high standards of professionalism and acquire the techniques that would be so necessary in Vietnam.

The three-week stay at the Jungle Training Centre, Canungra, was the test of all the skills learnt during the preliminary training of the Battalion. Physical toughening, shooting, tactics and navigation were but a few of the subjects covered. Canungra was taken in our stride, and the final exercise to complete the Battalion's preparedness then began, immediately after Easter 1966.

"Exercise FOXHOLE" Shoalwater Bay saw the Battalion hunting the "Queensland Cong", our enemy being the members of a company from the Second Battalion. Encompassed within the exercise was training for all levels of command. Assault, defence, search and destroy, cordon and search and heli-borne assault were some aspects that were stressed by the all-too-vigilant directing staff.

The battle won, the enemy routed, the Battalion thankfully sought respite in the seven days' pre-embarkation leave. No sooner had the Battalion marched through Brisbane in farewell on 21st May 1966, than the Advance Party flew to Vietnam. From 31st May, Company groups then flew from the Royal Australian Air Force base at Amberley to Saigon, South Vietnam, to join the Free World Forces; and thence to the Staging Camp at Vung Tau, in Phuoc Tuy Province, for final concentration, acclimatisation and theatre training before deploying in the Task Force base at Nui Dat. See Operation "Hardihood"

6 RAR Wives	Farewell March Brisbane	Route to Vietnam

Email Gary McMahon