Colonel Owen Maxwell Carroll (Rtd) as a platoon commander, later Officer Commanding Tracker Team, 3rd Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR), Malaya 1957-1959, interviewed by Colonel David Chinn MBE (Rtd)

Carroll speaks of his experience of being a platoon commander in 17th National Service Training Battalion following his commissioning through OCS Portsea, before joining 3 RAR at Ingleburn NSW; his impressions of 3 RAR, under strength and misemployed by Headquarters Eastern Command affecting training and morale; the role of 3 RAR in the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (BCFESR) and the commitment to the Malayan Emergency; the training of 3 RAR both at the Jungle Training Centre (JTC) Canungra and at the Far East Land Forces' Training Centre (FTC) Kota Tinggi, Malaya; the transit of 3 RAR by sea to Malaya, with particular reference to the experience of the collision of their ship MV New Australia with a Norwegian tanker in the Torres Strait; his initial reactions to 3 RAR's operational and administrative involvement in the Malayan Emergency; 3 RAR's incorporation in to the 28th Commonwealth Independent Infantry Brigade Group; the battalion's experience of early operations such as Shark North and Ginger including the nature of these operations and an assessment of the communist terrorists (CTs); platoon operations with their emphasis on ambushing as well as platoon manning, tactics, weapons, communications, rations and equipment; his training and leading 3 RAR Tracker Team; the handling of casualties including CT, as well as at own sick; the supporting forces such as Special Branch, Police Field Force and Home Guard; some testing and trying times as platoon commander and, for 3 RAR, moments of light relief; the desirability of a one-year unaccompanied tour over the accepted two-year accompanied tour with families; the facilities developed for rest periods for single soldiers under these circumstances; the most trying aspects of the operational environment for 3 RAR; the member of 3 RAR who exerted the most influence on him; his general observations including the use of artillery in Malaya.