Fire Mission Vietnam

One wrong call could cost lives. One accurate fire mission could save them.

In Vietnam, Steve Gower did not watch the war from behind the guns. He walked with the infantry, carrying the responsibility of calling them in.

In 1966, Gower was a young captain with 101st Field Battery when he was sent to South Vietnam. His role was artillery forward observer: to move with Australian infantry patrols through jungle, rubber plantations, villages, swamps and ridgelines, and provide the fire support that could mean the difference between survival and disaster.

Officially, the task was simple: deliver ‘timely, accurate and effective fire support’. In reality, it demanded nerve, precision and judgement under pressure. Gower carried radios, batteries, ammunition, maps and equipment through punishing country, all while living the same hard routine as the infantrymen around him. He knew that one wrong call could cost lives. One accurate mission could save them.

Serving with the 5th and 6th Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment, Gower took part in search-and-destroy missions, cordon-and-search operations, heliborne assaults, road-protection tasks and long patrols from forward operating bases. He writes of the boredom and fear, the black humour and exhaustion, the sudden violence of jungle warfare and the deep camaraderie of men who lived day after day with the safety catch off.

Fire Mission Vietnam is both a personal account of one Australian officer’s war and a rare record of the artillery forward observer’s role in Vietnam. Written by a Vietnam veteran, gunner and former Director of the Australian War Memorial, this is an important first-hand account of fire support, infantry operations and Australian service in one of the nation’s most controversial wars.

A tribute to the gunners and infantrymen who served in one of Australia’s most controversial wars.