Ted Serong Brigadier Francis Philip " Ted " Serong DSO , OBE ( 11 November 1915 – 1 October 2002 ) was a senior officer of the Australian Army , most notable for his contributions to counter - insurgency and jungle warfare tactics , and as commander of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam from 1962 until 1965 . Early life . The path that took Serong from the periphery of power to its centre began in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford . Francis Philip Serong was the first son of William and Mabel Serong . He grew up in a family with a strong allegiance to the Catholic faith and permeated with a military background , through his father ' s work as a supervisor of weapons standards for the Defence Department . The Serong children breathed in tales of the Empire , derring - do and military exploits . But it was the intellectual and religious ideas absorbed through the teaching of the Christian Brothers , after Serong won a scholarship to St Kevin ' s College , that shaped his world view . He formed a lifelong friendship at St Kevin ' s with B . A . Santamaria , later prominent as Catholic political activist and both men shared strongly anti - communist views . Military career . Before leaving St Kevin ' s , Serong set his sights on the Royal Military College , Duntroon . Failing to gain admission through the normal route , he joined the Citizens Military Force which afforded him entry when he passed an examination open only to servicemen . From there he never looked back . He graduated from Duntroon in 1937 , served first with the artillery , then with an armoured regiment until , switching to the infantry , he saw combat as a staff and regimental officer with the 6th Division in New Guinea , 1942 – 1945 . That was where he became interested in the challenges of jungle fighting and where he came under the eye of Colonel Reg Pollard , 6th Division ' s senior staff officer . Pollard noted the young man ' s adaptability and originality of mind , marking him as a future prospect for special assignments . After the war , Pollard , along with another 6th Division staff officer , Brigadier Charles Spry , of ASIO fame , were able , in the words of Serong ' s biographer , Anne Blair , " to smooth his path to his postwar assignment of reorienting army training to jungle warfare " and later in his security work in Vietnam . With the rank of colonel , Serong was given command in 1955 of the reopened Jungle Warfare Training Centre , at Canungra , in south - eastern Queensland . That was where his techniques and strategies first attracted attention . Though not everyone agrees , the courses he helped to develop and teach there were credited with contributing to the success of operations carried out by Australian troops in Malaysia , Borneo and later Vietnam . By 1957 his expertise was sufficient for the Burmese government to select him over candidates from Israel , America and Yugoslavia as counterinsurgency instructor to the Burmese armed forces . This led to a second appointment in Burma as strategic adviser to the armed forces from 1960 to 1962 . Vietnam . Then came the challenge of Vietnam when Pollard , now knighted and a lieutenant - general , as Chief of the General Staff selected Serong to lead the Australian Army instructors ' team . From the Vietnam struggle , with which he was thereafter invariably identified , Serong emerged as one of the world ' s foremost authorities on counterinsurgency and counterguerilla warfare . In Vietnam , Serong had found scope for the fullest expression of his talents , particularly as a strategic planner . His techniques and strategies were honed during his long service in the Vietnam War from August 1962 to April 1975 . Initially , he made his mark as the inspirational commanding officer of the Australian Army instructors ' team , known officially as the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam ( AATTV ) , which was there to assist in the training of South Vietnam ' s armed forces . Serong had considerable scope in raising the 30 - strong training group , enabling him to attract similar highly motivated souls . Apart from his own ability , what Hassett termed his " remarkable success " in this role owed much to the calibre of his men , who became the most highly decorated Australian unit to serve in Vietnam . They won four Victoria Cross es and a Presidential Unit Citation ( United States ) , while Serong was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) and several American and South Vietnamese decorations to add to the OBE he had received in the 1962 Queen ' s Birthday Honours . In Vietnam , as well as heading the Australian training team , Serong was appointed senior adviser on counterinsurgency to the commander of the U . S . Military Assistance Command , Vietnam , serving under General Paul D . Harkins and then General William Westmoreland . These links , forged with the US military , were to determine his future career path . When his command of the AATTV ended in 1965 , he was seconded to the US State Department , essentially under the auspices of the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) , to become senior adviser to South Vietnam ' s Police Field Force . That began his separation from the Australian Army , before he left formally in 1968 with the rank of brigadier . He was later to say of that decision , that his " relationship with the Australian Army , by and large , was a very happy one " , adding , " I left it because I found a way of being of more service to the country outside it than in it . It was a matter of staying in the wagon and trying to steer it or getting out and pushing , so I got out and pushed . " He stayed on in Vietnam , where various roles came his way . He was a security and intelligence adviser to the South Vietnamese government for some years as well as preparing strategic analyses for the RAND Corporation , the Hudson Institute and other US corporations . During those Vietnam years he was also a consultant to The Pentagon and to the policy planners of three American presidents — John F . Kennedy , Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon . He was one of the last to leave , flying out in the final helicopter airlift by from the US Embassy , Saigon on 29 April 1975 , the day before the fall of Saigon . Serong became a hawk on the prosecution of the war in Vietnam , believing a victory for the US and South Vietnamese forces would help prevent the countries of South - East Asia falling under the communist orbit . The hoped - for victory did not eventuate , but what had been gained , in Serong ' s view , was time for the threatened nations to strengthen their political and economic structures , enhancing their ability to deal with any insurgencies . Later life . Serong found it hard to settle back into life in suburban Melbourne after the Vietnam years . Having been separated from wife and family for so long , it was difficult to pick up those threads again . All , including his wife , Kathleen , had developed independent lives . His later years in Australia were devoted largely to advancing right - wing nationalist causes . He appeared on anti - communist platforms , both in Australia and abroad . His connection as patron of a citizens ' militia group called AUSI Freedom Scouts ( Australians United for Survival and Individual Freedom ) . After the mass shootings at Port Arthur in 1996 , Serong contended that the alleged gunman , Martin Bryant , could not have been the shooter . But his main concern was Australia ' s defence . He wrote extensively on defence issues , coming down strongly in favour of a forward - defence strategy . Another theme he pushed was the development of the Australian interior as part of a national defence plan . Though the extent of his achievements is not so well known in Australia , he was undoubtedly a major Cold War figure , who fought for what he believed in with skill and determination . In his later years , Serong suffered from heart disease ; he is survived by his wife , Kathleen , three daughters , Julie , Elise and Rosemary , and three sons , Michael , Richard and Anthony . Serong was a " quiet , deep thinker , brilliant tactician , very brave in the field and a good leader " , according to one of Australia ' s most respected soldiers , General Sir Francis Hassett . Those were among the qualities that led to this unassuming Australian Army officer winning international recognition for his innovative counter - insurgency and jungle warfare tactics .