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SOLDIER OF ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT pauses during sweep of cultivated area around a village.

combat support and logistic elements closed in Vietnam in December 1967 and was attached to the 1st Australian Task Force in the III Corps Tactical Zone. The tank squadron with its logistical support elements arrived in late February and early March of 1968 with fifteen operational Centurion tanks. Eleven more tanks were added in September. The No. 9 Helicopter Squadron received its eight additional helicopters in July, giving that unit sixteen helicopters. A cavalry troop of thirty men was added in October 1968.

The type and degree of support provided the additional Australian forces was in accordance with a new military working arrangement signed on 30 November 1967. Under its terms the Australian government was to reimburse the U.S. government at a capitation rate for the support provided. U.S. support included base camp construction and cost of transportation within Vietnam for supplies of Australian Force, Vietnam, arriving by commercial means; billeting and messing facilities, but not family quarters for dependents (payment of meals and billeting service charges were paid for by the individual in the Saigon area);