[Nov]ember a third Australian surgical team arrived in Saigon. This new group was assigned to the city of Vung Tau, and its thirteen members brought to thirty-seven the number of Australian medical personnel in South Vietnam.
From 1966 through 1968 Australian economic and technical assistance totaled more than $10.5 million and included the provision of technicians in the fields of water supply and road construction, experts in dairy and crop practices, and the training of 130 Vietnamese in Australian vocational and technical schools. In the area of refugee resettlement, Australia had provided over one and a fourth million textbooks, thousands of sets of hand tools, and over 3,000 tons of construction materials. Well recognizing the need and importance of an adequate communications system to allow the government to speak to the people, Australian technicians constructed a 50-kilowatt broadcasting station at Ban Me Thuot and distributed more than 400 radio receivers to civilian communities within range of the transmitter.
With a strong endorsement from the voters, the Australian government acted quickly to increase the size of the military contribution. The first step was to seek from the chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee, Australian Force, Vietnam, recommendation for the composition of additional forces which could be provided to South Vietnam on short notice. With little guidance and no knowledge of the ability of the U.S. and Vietnam governments to accommodate additional units, the chairman nonetheless made a recommendation. Cognizant of the desire of the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy for action in South Vietnam and aware of the strong support given to a triservice contingent by the Australian Minister of Defense, he proposed an augmentation consisting of elements from all three services. Included in the offer was the H.M.A.S. Hobart, a guided missile destroyer; a Royal Navy diving team; a squadron of eight B-57 Canberra bombers, an 80-man civil affairs unit, and a 916-man increase to the existing Australian Army units in South Vietnam. Australia's three services and defense department supported the concept and were in accord with the idea that Australia should be the First Nation, other than the United States, to support South Vietnam with a triservice contingent.
With regard to the ground forces, the 916 Australian Army reinforcements were provided for integration into units already in South Vietnam. Of that number, 466 were requested additions to the tables of organization and equipment of established
