But the weapons were only part of the equipment mystery. The footwear confused the American observer even more. Several Australian troopers preparing for the patrol were wearing sandals, not military boots, sandals. Specifically, sandals made from old automobile tires with straps cut from inner tubes. The American recognized them immediately. They were Ho Chi Minh Sandals, standard Vietkong footwear manufactured throughout North Vietnam and the jungle supply routes. Why were Australian soldiers wearing enemy footwear?
The answer revealed a level of tactical sophistication that American doctrine had never contemplated. Tracking was one of the primary methods the Vietkong used to locate and pursue enemy patrols. Every boot left distinctive impressions. American jungle boots had specific tread patterns recognizable to any experienced tracker. A Vietcong scout who found American bootprints knew exactly what he was following. He could estimate numbers, direction of travel, and approximate time since passage.
The Australians had eliminated this signature as well. By wearing captured Ho Chi Minh’s sandals, Australian patrols left tracks indistinguishable from Vietcong movement. A tracker who found these prints would assume he was following friendly forces. He would not raise alarm. He would not call for ambush teams. He might even walk directly into the Australian patrol believing he was meeting comrades.
This was not the only counter-tracking technique the Australians employed. They walked in streams when possible, leaving no prints at all. They stepped on roots and rocks rather than soft earth. When crossing muddy areas, the last man in the patrol would brush out tracks using branches. These methods added time and complexity to movement, but they made Australian patrols effectively impossible to follow.
The Vietkong, who had tracked French colonial forces for years, who had tracked South Vietnamese army units with ease, who tracked American patrols almost at will, could not track the Australians. The hunters found themselves unable to locate their prey.
But there was something else the American observer noticed about Australian attitudes that confused him on a different level entirely. It concerned how they referred to their enemy. American soldiers in Vietnam used a variety of terms for Vietkong fighters. Charlie, Victor, Charles, Gooks, Dinks, Slopes. The terminology ranged from neutral military brevity to outright racial contempt.
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