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CROSSFIRE
Author: Peter Haran & Robert Kearney
To be reviewed
Foreword
by:
Lieutenant-General Peter J. Cosgrove, A.C. M.C.
Chief of Army.
Australian of the year 2001.
 "The
fog of war feels like scuba diving. You're wearing a
diving mask and all you can see is what's straight
ahead, all you can hear is your own breathing and a
rushing sound in your ears.
Outside the mask is just silence, like someone turned a
radio off but it keeps coming back in bursts of terrible
loudness. There is a crack above your head and then a
loud bang and your ears shuts down to all noise: they're
overloaded.
Then there's silence again, a silence you want to stop.
The fog of war drains every ounce of energy out of your
body in a rush; you have never been so terrified in your
life - but never so capable and determined . . . ."
In October 1966 a group of soldiers from 5RAR were
chosen to form Australia's first specialist
Reconnaissance Platoon in the Vietnam War. One of this
platoons' section commanders was a 20-year old regular
soldier, Bob Kearney, who led a series of deadly patrols
through the jungles of Phouc Tuy Province while the 1st
Australian Task Force established its headquarters in
Nui Dat.
Operating in isolation and in extreme danger ahead of
the main Australian Forces these young men braved
regular enemy contacts, mines, booby traps and the
natural perils of the teeming jungle.
CROSSFIRE is the story of Bob and his mates in a tale of
courage, terror, madness and survival
Like most veterans, the war didn't end for Bob and his
fellow soldiers when their of duty was done: It haunted
them night and day for decades. The life long bond
forged between these men in Vietnam: sees them reunite
30 years later in the silent vastness of the Australian
Outback. Reliving the fears, the desperation and the
camaraderie of war, they finally lay their crippling
ghosts to rest.
Bob Kearney teams up with fellow Vietnam veteran, Peter
Haran best selling author of Trackers to tell this
gripping story of men at war whose toughest battle is to
regain peace
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