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104 Signal Squadron
Royal Australian Army Signals |
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"Royal Australian Signals, 104 Signal Squadron replaced 103rd Signal Squadron in 1966 in Vietnam. Members for the 104th were drawn from the 139th Signal Squadron at Enoggera Brisbane.
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The 104th was attached to the 1st Australian Task Force Head Quarters in Nui Dat and its primary roll was to provide reliable communications, radio, cipher, operation drafting and telephony services to the complete task force at Nui Dat and communications to other services in Vietnam. |
The 104th was not a combatant unit such as the Infantry, but provided clearing patrols and was heavily involved in big fire-fights like the Battle of Coral, Balmoral, TET (1968) and many more. |
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The 104th was primarily made up of Radio Operators and it was their task to operate with an attached unit providing a link to base. The 104th had a small detachment stationed at the Bearcat Base Camp in III Corps. |
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Calling artillery, Dust-offs, Locsats, Sit-reps and in many cases operating in a Liaison situation between the ARVN, US Military, Thai's, Kiwis (New Zealand) and Australian's in the battlefield. |
The Liaison Officer/Operator (LO) had to be capable of working alone, of using the Cat Code (converting plain language into 5x5 figures and letters to code up secure messages), precise map reading, impeccable procedures and capable of operating multiple radio and phone systems at any one time. Most LO Radio Operators worked 12 hour shifts and were ready at all times to move to another operating station. |
Nearly all LO’s used the AN/PRC25 set which at the time had been found to be reasonably reliable. Some base LO’s had access to the 106 Radio set for long distant High Frequency communications."
The 104th was still operational right to the last days of the war and Australias withdrawal.
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