Mr Sydney Alexander McLeod

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida USA October 26th, 2012 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: An Aussie's View of the Vietnam War: It's One Thing Killing Someone, And Another Coming to Terms With What You've Just Done!

Out of the thousands of memoirs written amongst the 2.7 million American "In Country" Vietnam War Veterans, there are less than a hundred that exist from Australia and New Zealand contributors. Despite the paucity of war literature coming from "Oz" about this almost half century old conflict, their varying experiences serve as a welcome and refreshing contribution to this often misunderstood war. Syd McLeod's "No Boxes" is no exception to this. This is a memoir about the author's early life on the Australian Outback, his experiences before, during and after he entered the Australian Army, as well as his discontent when leaving it as a sergeant. Mac also discusses his June, 1963 to August, 1965 tour of jungle fighting in Malaya and Borneo, as well as an in depth examination of his two tours of South Vietnam. He would be in the thick of the infamous "Tet Offensive," discussing how as a private he was unofficially appointed as an advisor to the South Vietnamese Regular and Regional Forces as an original member of the "Mobile Advisory Team." The last part of this tour Mac would participate in both the Battle of Fire Support Base "Coral" and "Balmoral." If this was not enough excitement for McLeod, the author returned for a second tour from May 16, 1970 to January 6, 1971 as a member of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps battalion. Mac came back a wreck from what he saw, and spares no one in this memoir, critiquing the South Vietnamese, the Australians, the Americans (or "Yanks" as he likes to call them) and finally of the world at large, which he refers to as "controlled madness." Pulling no punches on any of the aforementioned, Mac covers his own recovery from the insanity of Vietnam in relaying his personal methods of therapy using both meditation and logical conclusions, as well as his scathing denunciation of society's "brainwashed conditioning."

Syd McLeod, or "Mac" as he prefers to be called, sets the stage for readers by explaining the tenacity he developed as a cattle hand on Australia's Outback in the 1950's. Aside from driving cattle by horse over long, barren distances, Mac would experience castrating a wild stallion with a tin lid as well as take down with his bare hands a bull with razor sharp horns that was taller than his shoulders. He was also forced to kill a stray cow using only a pocket knife. Almost as if this was a training ground for the jungles of Malaysia and later South Vietnam, he would travel on horseback long distances on open plains without landmarks, never getting lost. During one three month period, aside from being hosed down in a storm, Mac would bathe twice during the entire period. Yet as the 1960's approached, Mac had an issue he needed to deal with. Feeling guilt over his father's avoidance from conscription in W.W.II by becoming a meat worker, the shame was compounded by the fact that his dad was also a black marketer for the duration of the war. The only way to atone for this was and not be accused of being just like his dad was for Mac to join the Australian Army, which he did in October of 1960. Few Americans realize how threatened Australia was by Communist invasion during the decade of the 1960's or for that matter the tribulations Australians underwent, as a historical perspective will prove. The first to arrive on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago almost 60,000 years ago were the Aboriginal Australians. British Royal Navy Captain and explorer James Cook claimed for Britain the east coast of Australia in 1770, without conducting negotiations with the existing inhabitants. Although English colonization occurred prior to this, between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 male and female British convicts were transported to the Australia. Most were thieves from working class towns, the majority repeat offenders. This along with immigrating settlers would serve to populate Australia until 1851 when the discovery of gold occurred. Overshadowing the 1848 California Gold Rush, British immigrants flooded into Australia seeking the precious metal.

Victoria, a state in Southeast Australia, saw its population grow from 76,000 in 1850 to 530,000 in 1859. Those that dug for gold were called "Diggers," hence the term that was later used to embody the Australian foot soldier. By the late 1880's the majority of people living in the Australian colonies were native born, although over 90% were of British and Irish origin. Despite achieving independent "Sovereign Nation" status in 1926, it was a natural that Australia followed suit when Britain declared war against Germany and its allies in both the First and Second World War. Fortunately, the Australian civilian population suffered less at the hands of the Axis powers than did other Allied nations in Asia and Europe. Regardless, Australia came under direct attack by Japanese naval forces and aerial bombardments, particularly through 1942 and 1943, resulting in hundreds of fatalities and fueling fear of Japanese invasion. With Britain almost conquered by Hitler, the conflict contributed to major changes in Australia's economy, military and foreign policy. The war accelerated the process of industrialization, led to the development of a larger peacetime military and began the process with which Australia shifted the focus of its foreign policy from Britain to the United States. The largest threat came from Australian fear of Communist expansion. Following the 1917 success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Communism posed a real threat in the eyes of many Australians. The Communist Party of Australia was formed in 1920 and, though remaining electorally insignificant, it obtained some influence in the trade union movement. Following the end of World War Two, the world was formalized by two international military alliances, the U.S. led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Soviet led Warsaw Pact. Consequently, a long period of political tensions and military competition occurred between them. Known as the "Cold War," the world would see an unprecedented arms race and proxy wars, particularly as embodied in Southeast Asia.

In China, nationalist and communist forces resumed their civil war in June 1946. Communist forces were victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, while Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Korea, formerly under Japanese rule, was divided and occupied by the U.S. in the South and the Soviet Union in the North between 1945 and 1948. Separate republics emerged on both sides of the 38th parallel, each claiming to be the legitimate government for all of Korea, which led ultimately to the Korean War and Australia's participation at America's behest. In the second year of this conflict, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States signed the "ANZUS Treaty," which compelled the three countries to cooperate on matters of defense and security in the Pacific. American president Lyndon Johnson would later use this, along with the "Domino Theory" to pray on Australian paranoia of Communist influence on its shores to get Oz to commit Australian troops to South Vietnam on its own volition. What was the "Domino Theory?" During The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which occurred between March and May of 1954, then American President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the following speech regarding the necessity of containing communism; "You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences." Regardless, the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between France's desire to retain its colonial possession in Vietnam against Ho Chi Minh's Communist Vietminh ended in abysmal U.S. financed French defeat. Ironically, this would influence negotiations over the future of Indochina at Geneva, Switzerland and set up what the Vietnamese now refer to as "The American War."

Mac would write in his memoir about soldiers in the Australian Army the following; "As far as they were concerned, the Domino theory was a fact and that's despite the pronouncements of modern day analysts that weren't even born at the time that it was a mirage. That was nonsense. That mirage was active all over the entire world and making it a very dangerous place to live. What was going on in Asia was the visible face of it. Australia was especially concerned as its nearest neighbor had the largest Communist party in the world outside Russia and China." Of course the author was referring to Indonesia and its expansionist designs on both Borneo and Malaya. Nevertheless, Mac's book is primarily about his two tours of South Vietnam, as well as his worldly conclusions of what he cynically laments as "indoctrinated ideas being the forerunner of arrogance," with the author coming full circle four decades later. Mac spares no one in this memoir, blasting the Australians, the Americans, and the Vietnam War itself. Australia's involvement in Vietnam War began as a small commitment of 30 men in 1962, and increased over the following decade to a peak of 7,672 Australians deployed in support of Oz forces there and evolving into the longest and most controversial war the continent has ever fought. Although initially popular with Cold War tensions high, as with America following the 1968 Tet Offensive a vocal anti-war Australian movement similarly developed. Mac deals with how the media and Communist elements in Australian higher educational circles adversely affected considerable portions of Oz society resulting in domestic opposition to the war on both political and moral grounds. Similar to U.S. President Richard Nixon's plans of turning the war over to South Vietnam, which he called "Vietnamization," the withdrawal of Australia's forces from Southeast Asia began in November of 1970. A phased withdrawal followed, and by January of 1973 Australian involvement in the Vietnam War had ceased. Nevertheless, Australian troops from their embassy platoon remained deployed in the country until July of 1973, despite all American air, naval and land assets exiting seven months prior to this. The final tally resulted in 521 killed and over 3,000 wounded.

Although there were exceptions, the Australians were concentrated in the extreme South of Vietnam, labeled "IV Corps." Although most U.S. historians place the Viet Cong strictly in the southernmost areas, Mac dispels this. The Australian military operated primarily in the provinces of Long Khanh & Phouc Tuy, where along with the VC the NVA's 274th , 275th and the 33rd Regiments set up bunker systems deep in the jungle, using them as hospitals, training and resupply depots. Mac laments in retrospect as to how he was sent to a remote outpost called "Lo Gom," with enemy crawling all around him. With some weapons, no budget, two vehicles and a combination of less than a dozen inexperienced Diggers, Montagnards, South Vietnamese and a Chinese interpreter who turned out to be both a Communist and CIA double agent, Mac would serve as a "Mobile Team Advisor." Charged with the heavy responsibility of running around the countryside as a "MAT," nobody in higher Aussie circles would believe Mac could achieve this with his rank of only being a Private. Mac would later explain that the CIA paid his team a visit in their "Air America" helicopter specifically to talk to the Chinese double agent interpreter. Mac would later mutiny when the Military Assistance Command of Vietnam (MACV) threatened that if his MAT fired on passing VC, ground support would be directed at his group instead of the enemy! Hinting he would go to the media to report this travesty, Mac was quickly spirited out of Lo Gom and transferred to a unit which would later partake in what became the second battle of Fire Support Base Coral. While there are so many interesting anecdotes Mac presents, one serves as a grim reminder as to what war really meant. After an Aussie machine gun crew wiped out a few enemy soldiers and became intoxicated with its lethal aspects, Mac brought them down to earth and fast. Forced to bury the dead, Mac wrote as the Diggers disposed of their kill; "When one guy's brains fell out as they were lifting him into the hole, one of them started dry retching while the other spewed his guts up. They were made to finish the job including the brains. Neither ever wanted to kill again."

Other indignation's are brought up. Mac reveals how not only was there corruption in the Australian military promotion system, he reveals fraggings, threats, being sent out on a patrol both in a typhoon and the night before his tour ended. In addition, inexperienced Corporals straight from Australia were promoted over seasoned veterans. Also disclosed was the strange situation at Vung Tau. Aside from being both an R & R center for the Australians, the seaside city doubled as a VC-NVA rest center as well. While not being deliberate, it was one of the few anomalies of cooperation between the enemy and the Australians as Vung Tau never had any war related incidents. As far as the Americans, Mac writes; "In Vietnam, stray U.S. helicopters flying overhead were also regarded as dangerous, as their gunners fired at anything that moved, particularly in the "free fire zones." Many an Australian after the war would give an instinctive shudder when he heard a Huey, as it has an unmistakable sound. For the grunts it was a real love/hate relationship with those machines. It is little wonder the Aussies respected the VC and NVA as worthy enemies, and disrespected the Americans as being badly trained. Mac ran into one U.S. "line" soldier who never fired an M 60 machine gun before arriving in Vietnam. The American had no respect for the enemy, which is a dangerous attitude." Mac also cites an incident where he called MACV for a Medevac to evacuate a seriously wounded Vietnamese comrade. MACV refused to authorize a Dustoff when they learned the injured man's identity was Vietnamese and he later died. In regard to U.S. advisers attached to the ARVN, Mac expounded; "I went to their compound once and found out they were nicely set up to sit out this war in comfort with a pool table and the lot; it was more a club than an operational base. Apparently when they did go out they'd have a company on all four sides of them so they'd be of little use in knowing what was really going on at their perimeter. Any support they may call up would be ill directed, so therefore it would be basically ineffective."

Finally, Mac deals with his rehabilitation from the war, PTSD issues as well as his conclusions on life, which he calls most people's perceptions as based on fantasy. Using a combination of intensive study, meditation, dream management, and even a hospitalized LSD session, Mac indeed put his Vietnam experiences behind him. One of his most interesting verdicts is on war and its effects on combatants. Mac asserts; "Modern man is basically a calm individual. Take a modern man and put him in a situation where he is constantly on alert, even while asleep and he will become aggressive. The change in attitude is attributable to overdoses in adrenaline." In Mac's eyes, this is precisely the cause of PTSD, which today scientists refuse to acknowledge. Instead of examining the cause, researchers and the medical profession only look at the effects, needlessly overmedicating many sufferers. Mac pulls no punches on "stolen valor" Vietnam Veterans, citing that many who were never in actual combat mysteriously claim they are PTSD sufferers. Citing that many people use PTSD as an excuse for behavioral problems they manifested before they went to war, Mac qualifies this as follows;"Basically any conditioning you have prior will become more enhanced after. So to say the war is the sole reason for their changed mental state is a lie. Military training is in reality an unnatural replacement of their lost survival skills, the war itself is proof of our engineered insanity, and it's the confrontation of that insanity that causes the problem. If you don't believe that, you are wearing blinders because mental illness is an ever increasing problem, war or no war." Mac dazzles readers by challenging all organized religions, belief in god, education, evolution, theology, intelligence, logic, science and even physics. Love Mac's ideas or hate them, McLeod is guaranteed to stimulate, with "No Boxes" serving as stimulating food for thought long after putting his fascinating book down!… (más)