RAA Liaison Letter 2024 - 2025 Edition

RAA L I A I SON L ETTER – 2024 – 2025 E D I T I ON C ANNON BALL S UP PLEMENT 131 Comments on CB Supplement: War in Vietnam - An RAA Perspective Lieutenant Colonel Brian Armour (Retd) A Little History of Australian’s Vietnam This article appeared in the RAA Liaison Letter 2023 Edition (in the Cannonball Supplement) and while it is a necessary and welcome accounting of the decade that the Gunners spent in the conflict, it has several points of detail which are inaccurate. It also touches on a few series of doctrinal issues where I consider we were seriously underprepared or “lost our way”. More analysis of these aspects of procedure and doctrine is possibly necessary and follows this analysis … the RAA was poorly prepared to enter the Vietnam War. (and how we adapted). For a journal of historical record which aims to document and preserve Artillery History, some modifying comment is probably necessary. This is done in the spirit of accuracy and not to imply any criticism of the contributors to the article (some named and others un-named). In many respects, it is a missed opportunity to examine a few areas where the RAA was poorly prepared to enter the Vietnam War. (and how we adapted). First Regimental Headquarters (Cubis and Begg) There is little doubt that Dick Cubis was a very eccentric person and like all of us, not without his faults. A fairly balanced and objective commentary on his life can be sourced on the RAAHC website under the “Gunners of Renown” section. The comment that he was born 100 years too late sums it up his quirky personality. The Commander’s Diary for 1 Fd Regt 1966 on the AWM Website is verbose, colourful, interesting but seriously incomplete only covering May 1966 (final preparations in Holsworthy), Jun 1966 (initial deployment to Vung Tau and recce of the new TF base at Nui Dat). The comment that he was born 100 years too late sums it up his quirky personality. In Jun 1966 there was a growing realisation that the issue of coordination of artillery and users of the air space in the Area of Operations was necessary. There was a lot of commentary on this by interested parties (there was a turf war between the RAAF and the USAF). During this period, Dick Cubis gave the task to Major Neville Gair (BC 103 Bty) propose a solution to the issue. Gair was a Gunner and a former Army pilot. Because of the lack of subsequent diaries and Gair’s own return to Australia (RTA) at the end of 191966 the trail went cold. There are no other Diaries available for the remainder of 1966 apart from Nov 1966 which contains one item: a letter from Dick Cubis written much later on 18 Sep 1968 to Brig EJH Howard (then DSD at AHQ) concerning earlier War in South Vietnam – 50th Anniversary (1962 - 1971): An RAA Perspective Erratum to Edition 101