by Nicholas Duck

Local character Lynton Malley has never been one to shy away from things - something that was the case even when he served in the Vietnam War.

Like many Gippsland locals Lynton was a bloke of simple pleasures, from footy to the pub to hunting with his mates.
Conscripted at age 20, the Bunyip boy deferred his service for two years due to his apprenticeship. It was a move he was happy to have made.
"I'm very glad that happened to me because another two years as a 20-year-old, that's 10 per cent of your whole life. And I had to be about 10 per cent more sharp than I would have been at 20," he says.
Conscription is a tough pill to swallow for anyone, though Lynton took solace in his father, who himself was a returned servicemen, and a volunteer at that.
"I was happy with that, using the reason that my father was a serviceman," he says.
"I would have to say though that I didn't consider volunteering. If I hadn't have been called up in the marble I don't think I would have volunteered."
As a part of the first intake of 1968, Lynton headed to Puckapunyal early in the year, where he discovered just how hot the area could be.
Given he was about to head to Vietnam during the dry season, a time notorious for its all-encompassing heat, that might not have been such a bad thing.
While the weather may have caused him to sweat, one thing he didn't sweat was the difficulty of the day to day operations.
He even has a theory as to why he and other conscripts appeared to find things a little easier than their volunteer mates. "I think that they had to be careful about our attitude. If you're a volunteer for the regular army they wanted to weed out the dead wood. That's only my theory. Because they didn't want to upset conscripts I think, only my theory, they were quite easy on us."
Lynton was soon shipped off to Singleton for his core training, where he learned the intricacies of being an infantryman. Unlike his initial service, this time he volunteered for the job.
"I did volunteer for infantry and I wasn't gung-ho about it but I thought if they wanted a fourth Dan black belt automotive maintenance engineer I would have been ideal," he says, a smile on his face.
"I wasn't going to make the army a career so I thought get in and get it all over and done with."
Lynton had never left the country before being shipped to Vietnam. The furthest he'd been away from home was Tasmania.
That didn't matter to him, however, as he looked forward to seeing an entirely new place.
That was until a stopover in Singapore, where the heat made Puckapunyal seem more like a resort.
Vietnam's heat was much the same, given Lynton and his fellow soldiers were arriving in the dry season. The positive was they at least avoided the torrential rain that comes with the wet season.
Once he was settled in with his unit at Nui Dat, Lynton took on the role of a forward scout. His job was to rotate with the other forward scouts at the front of the party, keeping an extra close eye on their surroundings and, in particular, watching out for any signs of the enemy.
"I think you move a little bit slower and your eyes, your pupils expand to get as much information as you can," he explains.
How Lynton ended up with the job is a little bit of a story - having been offered a lighter gun than the one he was currently carrying, he jumped at the opportunity, only to find out it came with extra responsibilities that he may not have expected.
Losing weight as he trekked through the countryside of Vietnam was a top priority, he says. "I shed every other bit of gear that I wasn't obliged by law to carry. Underpants were the first to go.
"People often grabbed my pack and it was like grabbing a jug of milk you thought was full, there was nothing in it and you nearly launch it. 'Jesus, Malley, what have you got in this pack?' 'Mostly nothing,' I'd say."
Lynton considers himself luckier than most in that he managed to avoid having too many contacts. He recalls a time he came close when his unit received intel that the enemy were almost certainly waiting ahead.
Instead they found some bodies from an instant ambush. The process to check them for explosives was considered a contact, and as such Lynton rotated with another forward scout and was relieved of his duties.
"I was inclined to agree with that decision," he says.
Lynton also recalls some of the larrikin antics he used to get up to with his mates. In particular, a time where they used grenades in a creek for their own version of "instant bait" for some good old fashioned fishing.
Returning home - after a six-month stint at a garrison in Malaysia, mind you - Lynton says he has mixed feelings on his service, and in particular Australia's involvement in the war.
"Given the wisdom of hindsight we had no business going anywhere near Vietnam and we didn't do a scrap of good. Didn't achieve anything," he elaborates.
"When I was there I could justify being there because you get lectures and indoctrination. 'We're halting communism, we're doing a service.' What I see now is we were interfering in a little civil war, two factions trying to reunite their country. If we hadn't have been there that would have resolved itself nine years earlier."
It took some time to get fully involved in groups like the Warragul RSL, but now he's very glad he did, particularly in finding a likeminded community.
"It's really good to be involved with them."