4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Sep 25 Newsletter

From Bryan Porter (108 Bty) on 2 August. We are very lucky to be of good health and still able to play golf. We have had another very good reunion in Tweed Heads this year and have people organising another for May 2026 it is so good to catch up with our mates. Apart from these reunions we live a very quiet life so would not have anything worth reporting. I know it is mainly about Vietnam Vets but one of the 108 men Denis Moore is in the "Friends of Gallipoli" and is involved in the 110 year memorial service to be held in Sydney on the 20th December 2025 so maybe he might have an interesting item for the next newsletter.( See Denis’s article above ) Stay safe. Cheers Bryan From Ben Lans (HQ Bty 1970 - deployed with 1 Fd Regt and stayed on with us) - A Night Deployment and a Black Wallaby (sometime in 2021) (Ed. Here is a brief summary of Ben’s service) Ben is the author of a wide variety of Australian/US joint studies and Australian Parliamentary submissions and papers including major contributions to Defence White Papers since 2001. He joined the Army in 1968, attended the Officer Cadet School at Portsea in Victoria and graduated to the Corps of Royal Australian Artillery. He served on active duty in South Vietnam in 1970/71. He was posted to Singapore (106 Bty) in 1972-74 as part of the Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom force which formed a part of the Five Power Agreement including Singapore and Malaysia. He attended Command and Staff College at Queenscliff, Victoria in 1984, followed by a posting to the Ministry of Defence in London as the UK’s principal Soviet artillery analyst and adviser. His final posting as a regular officer was Head Weapon Systems, Defence Technical Intelligence, Defence Intelligence Organisation in Canberra. Ben resigned from the Regular Army in 1991 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He and his wife Lo moved to Tasmania in the mid-2000s to follow their love of the outdoors. After leaving the Army he continued to provide consulting services to the ADF, including capability development and the planning of joint Australian/US Defence training. Ben’s book “Heads Up Gentlemen” is an interesting book about his time in the Army including some great activities with 108 Battery during the 70s and 80s. Ben was the Battery Commander of 108 when he took members of the battery on an Adventure Training exercise on the Franklin River in Tasmania. This exercise, recorded in some detail, is a highlight of his book. Ben’s book is available from several online sources. It’s dusk. I’m in first gear in my ’91 Perentie Landrover (yes… believe it) and I can only just see the vehicle in front of me. We are twisting and turning along a barely visible track into deep forest. No I am not on a night deployment in a gun battery somewhere on High Range, I am in the native forests of Eastern Tasmania, and I am part of a protest group organised by the Bob Brown Foundation attempting to prevent the clear felling of Swift Parrot habitat. Becoming disgusted at the rate of senseless forest destruction in Tasmania, I decided to put my body on the line and join a real live protest. Earlier in the afternoon I had been briefed by the organiser of the group in a briefing session that could only be described as an orders group. I tell you these guys know what they are doing! Approach routes fully reconnoitered… ground zero selected… withdrawal routes planned, and RVs explained… and roles allocated. All with military efficiency.