City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Rounds complete, an artillery forward observer in Vietnam, Steve Gower

eng

contains biographical information

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Rounds complete

Steve Gower

an artillery forward observer in Vietnam

In 1966, Steve Gower, a young gunner captain in the 101st Field Battery, was sent to Vietnam. He would serve in what is arguably Australia's most controversial war in the dangerous role of forward observer with the 5th and 6th battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment. In Rounds Complete, Gower describes living the life of an infantry soldier, tramping the ground and joining his infantry mates in a variety of operations including search and destroy, cordon and search, hellebore and road-protection operations and company patrols from forward operating bases. He describes the inevitable boredom and monotony of the routine, contrasting this with the heightened senses of the men as they prepared to move forward with the 'safety catch off', the nervous anticipation of what might lie ahead, the exhilaration and, above all, the camaraderie. Gower is positive about his time in Vietnam and, perhaps surprisingly for one who saw action in this contentious war, is supportive of Australiaâ s commitment, referring to the conflict as the last time the Army was permitted the 'unfettered, all-arms prosecution of a war'. Rounds Complete is a frank and compelling tribute to men who served just as nobly as their AIF predecessors but, until recent times, were denied their nation's gratitude. Their fight for understanding continues