Australian advisors train Highland tribesmen DPR/TV/982

These military training exercises could easily be at Canungra - the Australian Army's Jungle Training Centre, where special toughening-up techniques in jungle fighting are continually being used. But the tunnels and rope bridges in use here are in Vietnam, where selected Australian Army advisers and their American counterparts train the Montagnard highland tribesmen. The Australians are members of the Australian Army Training Team - and they have one of the toughest jobs of the Vietnam war. It is their task to personally train the Montagnards, and to participate with them in operations against the enemy. Based at Pleiku, in the central highlands of the Republic, the Australians comprise three captains and about 13 warrant officers, who live and work with the Montagnards. When not on operations, the advisers run through general basic training with their units, going through most techniques and training that Australian recruits receive when they enter the Army. The wiry Montagnards, recognised as rugged, courageous fighters, are tribesmen who have little or no military experience when they join this force, and it's up to the Australian and American advisers to train them in modern military techniques including strategy and tactics, map reading, field craft and weapon handling. Born and raised in the mountains, the Montagnards are well known for their toughness, and their agility and tireless effort under difficult conditions. On operations and in training, the advisers always work through an interpreter, to eliminate any communication difficulties. Although acting as platoon and company commanders, the advisers work in liaison with Montagnard counterparts within their units, forming a closely knit strike force ready to go into action at short notice. Special shooting ranges and obstacle courses are set up, and when introducting new training techniques to a platoon on the snap-shooting range, the advisers personally go through the new procedures with the Montagnard squad leaders, then leave the Montagnards themselves to supervise their own men, - and the wiry little tribesmen are fast learners. The Australian strike force advisers form only a small part of the Australian Army Training Team - the Australian unit which has served longest in South Vietnam. The men of the Training Team, spread from the Demilitarized Zone to the Mekong Delta in the south, work with local units during their 12-month tour, often in isolated outposts, where they rarely come into contact with their fellow team members except by radio. The Training Team has been serving in Vietnam since July 1962.(Also identified: Capt Peter Rothwell of Castle Hill, NSW (bush hat); WO2 John Grafton of Nollamara, WA (beret); US Sergeant Carl Sypots of Los Angelos, California; WO2 Les Kapp of Hammondville, NSW).