The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) provided essential expertise from 1962 to 1972. Military advisers trained and led South Vietnamese forces in hazardous combat operations. As Australia’s most decorated unit, the AATTV earned 4 Victoria Crosses during its significant 10-year commitment.
In the early 1960s, the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) faced serious challenges. The government was struggling against a growing communist insurgency, losing control of rural areas and dealing with unrest at home. To help, South Vietnam asked for support from the United States (US) and Australia. Both responded with offers of civil and military aid.
Australia’s assistance was limited but demonstrated loyalty to the US, its closest ally. The US wanted to avoid appearing to replace French colonial rule with its own, so involving countries like Australia made it look more like a joint international effort.
Military advisers
Australia sent 30 military advisers to South Vietnam, led by Colonel F.P. 'Ted' Serong.
The AATTV gave Australia a foothold in the country. It also put the 'Forward Defence' idea into practice – dealing with threats overseas rather than waiting for them to reach Australia.
Colonel Serong arrived in Saigon, South Vietnam's capital, on 31 July 1962.
The first AATTV group landed in South Vietnam on 3 August 1962. It was just 30 men – officers, sergeants and warrant officers – led by Colonel Serong.
Members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam’s (AATTV) first contingent disembark from the aircraft that has brought them to Saigon, South Vietnam, 3 August 1962. These men were at the vanguard of Australia’s long involvement in the war and were among the first of some 1,000 soldiers to serve in the AATTV. AWM P01011.004
This small team marked the start of Australia’s 10-year involvement in the Vietnam War.
Members of the AATTV served in South Vietnam for 12 months, with the option to stay another 6 months.
Over 10 years, the AATTV grew in size and ranks, reaching 224 members in 1971, just before Australia began to withdraw its military personnel.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Brian Betts, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, outside a house in the area known as ‘The Street Without Joy’, Quant Tri Province, South Vietnam, 1967. Betts and members of the US Military Assistance Command Vietnam were on patrol with a unit of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. AWM P02222.016
How they worked
From the start, AATTV members were split into groups and sent across South Vietnam working with:
the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN)
local people in remote mountains
the Civil Guard protecting key sites
Ranger units
US teams training militias and running the Phoenix Program against the Vietcong.
Until 1964, AATTV members weren’t allowed to join the troops they trained on missions. It was a rule that didn’t work in practice and hurt their reputation. Once this changed, they often experienced more combat than most other Australian units in the war.
By 1965, AATTV advisers went on patrols with South Vietnamese units and helped defend bases. Though officially trainers, they often took the lead and showed their skills in battle.
For many in the AATTV, serving in the war was lonely. They usually worked alone or in pairs, mostly within US teams attached to Vietnamese units. Because they were spread out, Australia had a presence across the country and could see what was happening beyond Phuoc Tuy Province, where most Australians served.
A member of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), Captain Peter Shilston, confirming by radio that the village that he is about to search with South Vietnamese troops has been properly cordoned. Shilston was one of 6 AATTV members to be awarded the Military Cross during his service in South Vietnam, 1970. AWM FAI/70/0595/VN
Major Gordon Brown, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, District Senior Adviser in Nam Hoa, travels by sampan from Nam Hoa to more remote areas of his district, South Vietnam, October 1969. AWM EKN/69/0120/VN
While seated in a jeep, Victoria Cross recipient, Warrant Officer Class 2 Ray Simpson spares a cigarette and a light for an elderly Vietnamese woman during a visit to a village, South Vietnam, September 1969. Simpson, a member of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, was working with a Village Defence Advisory Team in the area. AWM LES/69/0617/VN
Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Ray 'Scarlet' O’Hara with his hands on his hips and WO2 Bill Butler instruct Regional Force (RF) soldiers in the use of the M79 grenade launcher in the Delta region, Ben Tranh District, South Vietnam, June 1970. The 2 Australian Army Training Team Vietnam advisors were part of a Night Operations Advisory Team to retrain the RF soldiers for night ambushes against the Vietcong as part of a pilot project. AWM WAR/70/0405/VN
Warrant Officer Class 2 Peter Conway makes his way across the ‘Monkey Bridge’, a precarious looking bamboo structure leading to the ‘Y’ Regional Force Company compound, where he was an advisor, in Cho Gao District, South Vietnam, late 1970. AWM JON/70/0867/VN
Warrant Officer Class 2 George Logan on operations with a training patrol from the Jungle Warfare Training Centre, Canungra, Queensland, c 1970. During his tour with the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, Logan was a member of a Mobile Assistance Training Team (MATT) with the 302nd Regional Force Battalion based in Ba Ria, Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. The MATT sought to improve the military capabilities of the Regional Force battalions. AWM P00963.048
Warrant Officer Class 2 Peter Conway, looks on as South Vietnamese Regional Force soldiers inspect targets they practiced on at Cho Gao in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam, 1970. AWM JON/70/0870/VN
Warrant Officer Class 2 George Logan of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, directing the evacuation of wounded Army of the Republic of Vietnam soldiers from the field during operations in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, April 1970. AWM CAM/70/0176/VN
Withdrawal from the war
As Australia and the US began withdrawing their forces in 1971, the AATTV once again focused on training Vietnamese units to fight on their own.
The last AATTV members left South Vietnam on 18 December 1972, just over 10 years after the first arrived.
During its time in Vietnam, the AATTV became Australia’s most decorated unit of the war. Its members earned 4 Victoria Crosses and many other awards from Australia, the US and South Vietnam. Most of the awards were for bravery, but some were for helping the local Vietnamese people.
Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Kevin Thomas Miller, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), sits in a jeep, while WO2 Warren Frederick Lewis, AATTV, stands on the right, Vung Tau airfield, South Vietnam, c 1972. In the centre is Cambodian Private Yon Monn and a rifleman nicknamed 'Heckyl', both boy soldiers from 164 Battalion Chasseur of the newly formed Forces Armées Nationale Khmer. AWM P08697.003
Biographies
Four members of the AATTV were awarded the Victoria Cross for their service during the Vietnam War:
Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin 'Dasher' Wheatley VC, a member of the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam, stands on a roadside near Saigon, South Vietnam, 8 August 1965, just 2 months before his death in action at Tra Bong. He was awarded a Victoria Cross posthumously for remaining with a mortally wounded comrade while his position was overrun despite having had the chance to save himself. AWM A05546
Victoria Cross (VC) recipients Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Ray Simpson VC (left) and WO2 Keith Payne VC in Saigon after the announcement of Payne's VC. Simpson is holding a can of Victoria Bitter, Saigon, Vietnam, September 1969. AWM LES/69/0590/VN
Major Peter Badcoe VC at the Holsworthy Barracks, New South Wales, c 1966. Badcoe served in South Vietnam with the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam from 6 August 1966 until his death on 7 April 1967. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for 3 separate actions in Phu Thu, Quang Dien and Huong Tra areas during February and April 1967. AWM 116857
DVA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) (
), Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, DVA Anzac Portal, accessed 11 August 2026, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/vietnam-war/army/australian-army-training-team-vietnam
