G'day all, something that not a lot of people know is that NO Australian who was conscripted during the Viet Nam war were forced to go to fight in Viet Nam. They the conscripts had to formally volunteer for active service in Viet Nam, Only regulars had no choice on when and where they went. Often SSM's or WO's would yell, all those who want to fight in Viet Nam take one step forward", most then sign papers to volunteer for active service. though it is highly possible for some to have fallen through the cracks. Also in Aussie permanent residents who were not citizens were also available for conscription, from the age of 18 years though most were at 19 years. If some one said NO then they were transferred to a non deployable unit for their two years. The protester organisations could have stopped the Aussie Army from having all but Regs fighting if they got into this and organised for conscripts to say no as the army could not and never has been able to force any Aussie conscripts and WW2 Militia to fight anywhere but on Aussie soil. There would have been a large army that was going nowhere. However as with most nations once in the army most conscripts saw it as their job to go and fight. The thought of their dads grand dads uncles all fighting from WW1 to Malaya/Borneo made virtually all conscripts to volunteer for active service in Viet Nam.
Thanks Andy, appreciate it! I think I better get a avartar for my posts and a quote for the bottom of my posts. So much pictures and quotes to choose from though. This really is turning into a special site for me, esp since I just googled Aussie Military History Forums and this came up at number 1 on the seach engine. Please excuse if I bring up something that has been discussed before, I will do searches however that not allways works. Regards Cobber
