TRANSFORMATION OR REINCARNATION
I had been asked me to write an article for the Dec ’97 issue of  ‘Vampire’. Well, I well and truly missed the deadline, but in recalling events of 25 – 30 years ago, perhaps a month or two doesn’t matter.

I went to South Vietnam as a Reservist Specialist Medical Officer (Pathologist), arriving early December ’68. At that time I worked at RGH Concord so getting leave was perhaps easier for me than for most Reserve MO’s. As a result, I had two, back to back, tours through to June ’69.

It was a very strange trip by 707, Caribou and then by bus, but finally I arrived at 1ALSG in the sand.

Although a RAAMC member for twelve years, at that stage I knew very few people at 1AFH. With a flurry, the outgoing Specialist Team departed and the new team sized each other up. The Anaesthetist, John Von Willer, was already in place as part of his long tour of duty. The incoming Surgeon, Brian Cornish, and Physician, Alan Kerr Grant, were Senior Specialists from Adelaide and they immediately put their stamp of professional excellence on the unit. For me this was the beginning of friendships that remain, strong and important, 30 years on.

I arrived at the very end of the Malaria Epidemic of ’68 and while we continued to see malaria cases the emphasis from then on was trauma surgery. Fortunately the CO, Ray Hurley, had considerable experience in surgery of minor trauma so we had, in effect, two surgeons. All MO’s, of course, worked in Triage and people like myself clocked up considerable theatre time as assistants to lighten the load.

I was to remain impressed with this fully staffed, well equipped, high morale unit. It was a credit to the Corps and to the Army. All contributed to the aim and can be proud of their efforts.

In my area of expertise I had the good fortune to have a well set-up and well-equipped laboratory, with first class staff under the leadership of Sgt. Don Hemsley. Don had an MSC in biochemistry and the National Service Scheme provided me with 4-5 graduate Lab Techs. I was ever grateful.

Between Dustoff's there was time for medical investigative work, under the direction of Alan Kerr Grant, especially in diagnosis and treatment of Shingella infections. This work was later published. We saw a wonderful variety of parasitology in the lab, which influenced me towards a later career in this specialty.

Unlike the Surgeon and Anaesthetist, who were truly tied to the unit, I was able to get about to some extent. We ran a subsidiary lab at 8 Fd Amb, Nui Dat, and thanks to an odd friendship, from US days, with Ken McKenzie OC of 168 Recce Flt I was able to fly regularly by chopper and visit this lab. Other duties include regular hygiene surveillance of the Vung Tau eating establishments used by the Australian troops. Probably as a result of this I ate out very infrequently in Vung Tau. Thanks to Adrian Groessler (then DADMS) I was able to get up to Saigon occasionally and in the latter part of my tour was involved, in a minor way, in the local village hearts and minds campaign. 

In the second part of my tour I was glad to welcome an old friend Hugh Gibson as Physician and another fine Adelaide Surgeon, Graham Wilson , and a Medical Officer, Daryl Salmon (ARA), arrived as Anaesthetist. We were to be associated later, at Ingleburn, for some years.

My replacement, Bruce Gutteridge, was on hand so I came to the end of my tour.

A small group of us squeezed in beside aero engines and other stores for the return flight, firstly to Than Rang (wrong direction), then to Butterworth, Penang, Darwin and then Richmond where the welcoming party of Australian Customs Officials awaited.

The second part of my story begins late in 1972. I had joined the ARA and been posted as first CO of the newly established 1^st Field Hospital, at Inglburn. I also doubled as Pathologist 2 Mil Hosp, over the road, but the Field Hospital came first. There were but three Officers:- myself, Jim Mallice as AO and Bob Pearson as QM. In contrast to my CMF units we were fully up to establishment in our OR strength, and what a strength they were. We started from nothing, but were able to achieve quite a lot. Sadly almost nothing of 1^st Australian Field Hospital remained. Mess silverware, momentos, library books, especially the medical library, all gone we know not where! Strangely though, there were some beach umbrellas left over.

Our first priority was to establish a truly mobile hospital, and one of the early challenges was to devise an Operating Theatre Bubble suitable for field deployment. The initial template was in fact a horticultural igloo we found in Sydney. Gradually this developed into the plastic air-conditioned bubble familiar to later unit members.

We were criticized for producing a non-mobile monster, but the army could provide us with little dedicated material and we obtained our requirements from commercial sources in Sydney, containerized it and loaded it on low loaders. We succeeded by self help and, in particular, the efforts of Bob Pearson and our Consultant Surgeon, Barry Collins.

By the time I left 1^st Field Hospital all the basics were in place; we already had a good record of field surgery and we could deploy fairly rapidly. This was the beginning of the sophisticated unit now located at Holsworthy. On reflection a very satisfying posting for all unit members.

The two units are related, and fairly directly at that, but of course circumstances, roles, equipment and manning were vastly different. Perhaps reincarnation is more appropriate than transformation.