Against their will?

Were National Servicemen conscripted and sent to Vietnam against their will?

About 40% of all troops who served in Vietnam were National Servicemen. All were, by definition, conscripted into the Army.

But there were probably few, if any, who were actually forced to go to Vietnam.

Demonstration at Central Railway Station in Sydney in September 1965 as national servicemen left for training at Kapooka, NSW.
(Photo from Fairfax Photo Library - MacGladrie; as reproduced in Peter Edwards, A Nation at War, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1997)

After their initial training all recruits were allocated to a Corps (branch of the Army, eg Infantry, Artillery) for specialised training, and were then sent to particular units. If the unit was scheduled to be sent to Vietnam, the soldiers were generally given the chance to avoid transfer elsewhere. The Army's rationale was that in combat every man had to be able to rely totally on his mates, and any reluctant soldiers would endanger the whole group.

An example of this approach can be seen in the recent history of the Eighth Battalion in Vietnam, Robert A Hall's Combat Battalion, (Allen & Unwin, St Leonard's, 2000). Hall records that many National Servicemen:

'recalled that in various ways they were given the option of avoiding a tour of Vietnam. Peter Ball ... said that members of the 16th National Service intake were invited to allocate themselves to groups including those who wanted to go to Vietnam and those who didn't. Peter Cousins ... believed that every Nasho could have avoided service in Vietnam but that exercising the option might require some radical action like joining the Communist party of Australia, becoming a practising homosexual or assaulting one's own platoon commander. He volunteered for service in the infantry ... David Jones ... recalled: "We were lined up and told that if we didn't wish to go we didn't have to. I would think that 95%, apart from a few married men, wanted to go." Andrew Roberts ... (said that) "The officer taking the parade stated that if for any reason we objected or didn't want to go to Vietnam we could be exempted and each case would be considered" ... Jeffrey Sculley remembered: "There was a battalion parade about six to eight weeks before we went over and we were told if we didn't want to go (we should) report to (our) platoon commander after the parade and they would have you replaced ..."
'However, other Nashos have claimed that they had no option but to go. Rod Scutter ... tried to avoid going but he went anyway. Derek Walsh ... was given a range of options but he thought they were loaded against the nasho ...'

(Robert A Hall's Combat Battalion, Allen & Unwin, St Leonard's, 2000, pages 11-12).

[Return to Activity Main Page]