Captain McDowell, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, 1964-1965

An interview with Don McDowell covering his deployment to Vietnam in 1964 to work with the Covert Action Branch of the CIA, stationed at the Psychological Warfare Centre in Vũng Tàu and his subsequent work as Head of Strategic Intelligence for the Australian Army in Vietnam.

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0:00 Introduction
1:12 Summary of Service
6:33 Post-Long Tân Investigation
10:56 Continued Summary of Service
15:49 Heading out to Vietnam, 1964
16:50 A Rude Reception in Singapore
18:04 On to Vietnam
19:16 A Typical Army SNAFU
19:43 Down to Vũng Tàu
20:25 Assignment as Co-Commandant, National PsyWar Centre, Cat Lo
21:05 Duties as Co-Commandant
25:08 Thoughts on this Role
26:24 Thoughts on the Bigger Picture in Vietnam
30:37 An Uphill Struggle, Thoughts on the CIA
32:52 The Training Program in Detail
39:29 The Advantages of Speaking Vietnamese
41:23 Intelligence Gathering
42:22 Thoughts on the Success of the Advisory Effort
43:48 Attack on Hôi Mỹ
46:27 The Aftermath
51:25 Setting Ambushes
52:36 Small Arms
57:14 The End of the Training Assignment
58:45 The Shift Towards the Phoenix Program
1:01:35 The War Becomes a Numbers Game
1:05:20 The Purpose of the Interview
1:07:50 Weapons Collection
1:11:21 "Whatever Seems Right at That Moment Probably Is"
1:16:41 Laughter Under Fire
1:18:29 Australian vs. US Training
1:21:09 The ARVN Doctrine
1:22:44 Thoughts on More Recent Military Campaigns
1:24:57 Memories of Intelligence work in Canberra, 1967
1:32:28 The Importance of Intelligence
1:33:48 Closing Thoughts