My army basic training was at Kapooka, near Wagga Wagga. In the picture at the top of this page, I am accepting a prize from Colonel Donald Dunstan for being the top soldier in 4 Platoon, A Company, at our passing out parade. Colonel Dunstan later became Governor of South Australia. By sheer coincidence he just happens to have the same name as a famous premier of the same state. Colonel Dunstan would later play another part in my life when, as acting Task Force Commander, he ordered 3RAR to move from FSB Coogee to FSB Balmoral in May 1968. Later that same year he was also on the selection board in Singapore which selected me for the Officer Cadet School. But that is a later chapter in this story.

I actually came away from Kapooka with two trophies. In addition to top soldier in my platoon, I was part of a team that lost a tenpin bowling match against the Air Force. My trophy was for getting the highest score for the Army.

On the day that I joined the army, I walked into the recruiting office alongside another long-haired country boy by the name of Terry O'Farrell. We sat together in the waiting roon, took the oath together, and became roommates at Kapooka. Terry later joined the SAS, where he rose to the rank of RSM of the SAS Regiment, before doing the "knife and fork" course, and retiring as a Major with an Order of Australia Medal. His autobiography, Behind Enemy Lines, has been published by Allen and Unwin. In the book there is a picture of Terry and me, taken at Kapooka.

My other roommates at Kapooka were Ray Todd, whose army career would closely follow mine with postings to 8RAR and 3RAR, and Morrie Callaghan. Terry, Toddie and I were all teenagers, but Morrie was quite a few years older. From Kapooka he went to Army Aviation, serving in Vietnam with 161 Squadron. I noticed in the obituary column of a veterans' journal that he has recently died.

The army gave me an early lesson at Kapooka. It was high summer, and most of the members of my platoon were taken to a classroom, where they were given indoor lessons to qualify for the army's equivalent of the Intermediate Certificate. Now, most of the training at Kapooka was outdoors and physically demanding, so a classroom was considered blessed relief. Only two members of the platoon missed out on that relief. They were Clive Taylor and myself. Because we had both finished high school with the Leaving Certificate, while the rest of the platoon sat comfortably indoors, Clive and I were sent out in the blazing sun to dig post holes! It doesn't pay to be too smart in the army.

Coincidentally, I would later become National Secretary of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, and Clive, who changed his name to Mitchell-Taylor, would become National President of the same organisation.

After Kapooka I made what some people might regard as a strange decision. Having done so well in recruit training, I was well placed to get a posting to the corps of my choice. So how did I end up in infantry? The answer is that I still thought I might make it to Officer Cadet School, and I thought infantry would offer the best training for a potential officer. So I chose infantry, and was posted to the infantry training centre at Ingleburn, which happened to be my home town.

I have been keeping track of the number of jobs I have had in my life, and also the number of changes of address. That will become significant later. I have thought a lot about whether to count all of the changes of address while I was in the army. I have decided that I will count them, because they must have had some influence on building a habit of moving around. Most people would think twice about moving interstate for example, because it is a difficult thing to do. But if it is something you have already done several times, it does not seem quite so daunting.