Exercise Life Saver DPR/TV/1078

Australian soldiers who go to Vietnam for active service have not said goodbye to their days of training. Training is a constant fact of life with the soldier, whether in Australia or on active service overseas. The aim of the training is to repeatedly remind a soldier of the basic safety rules of weapon handling which he was first taught in his recruit training days. In Vietnam, units with the 1st Australian Task Force at Nui Dat are required to continually conduct "Exercise Lifesaver" during a soldier's 12 months in country. The aim of the exercise is to cut down the number of accidents which lead to death and injury among Australian soldiers. During 1968 five Australian soldiers were killed and 34 wounded in accidents in Vietnam. The soldier's first introduction to Exercise Lifesaver is in the 1st Australian Reinforcement Unit at Nui Dat. It is this unit that the infantry soldier spends his first three weeks in Vietnam. During the life-saver phase of his three weeks at ARU he is reminded again and again of the basic safety rules, shown how carelessness with a loaded gun can cause it to fire, and how rough handling and knocks can make a previously "safe" weapon loaded and dangerous. The procedures to adopt when on sentry are repeated and soldiers are also shown the varied uniforms worn by South Vietnamese units fighting with Australian troops. The rules of engagement which lay down when a soldier may open fire are taught and junior commanders are exercised in the correct briefing of patrols and on sentries. The final phase gives a practical demonstration by re-enacting incidents which, in the past, have caused the death of Australian soldiers. (Also identified: OC 1st Aust Reinforcement Unit Major J. C. S. Hallinan of Ingleburn, NSW; Sgt Bryan Rhodes of Holsworthy, NSW; Cpl Tony Wass of Dover, Tas; WO2 Don Lynch of Cabramatta, NSW; Sgt Vic Johnson of Westport, NZ).