Australian Army Ghost Platoon

Here is a nice little unit for some of you to back story your Aussies, especially for 28mm skirmish rules.

In 1969 the Aussies put together a unit called the 2nd Defence and Employment platoon (2D&E).

The platoon was made up of 39 junior NCO's and privates, no sergeants, no officers and for many many years no record in the official histories or TO&E's or ORBATS.

By coincidence led by an Ex-British Marine commando who had transferred to the Aussie Army.

News article here: Ghost Platoon - ABC News



As the articles state there is a book (click for Amazon link) about the platoon and its activities and the book was a big part in the Australian Army finally acknowledging the existence of the platoon.




The book is now on my to read list.

Oh, and finally recognition by by the government:

Good stuff - I think you should make posts like this into a thread on the Australian Army in Vietnam.

But if you do that (a great idea) why not remember the ARVN input? "Never mind the quality, feel the width" is a long running UK joke. There were lots of them...,one of the biggest armies in the world at the time, and they were not all corrupt, useless, treacherous, cowardly. Remember An Loc.

But of course the Korean involvement will never be mentioned. They were "effective" at the least. Can't beat an ANZAC unit though. They are usually selected as an an elite and will do better than most.

great post mate

Really interesting.

OTB wrote:I think you should make posts like this into a thread on the Australian Army in Vietnam

Maybe a subforum dedicated to conversations and references to both the ANZAC and Australian involvement in the war? Just wondering if there will be enough content to make it worth it. But I could leave that to TEC and OTB to beef it up with info.

Let me know.

Oooooo, another book to read! And good on Dr. Kelley for doing the right thing for the veterans rather than worrying over image and "official archive records". Correcting records should be a good thing, as historical accuracy should be prized over style or image.

Interesting story ; I don't know of this ; I'll have to read the book .

to me, the expression "D&E Platoon" is common in training wings as the "Demonstration and Enemy" platoon which is the 'official name' for an 'unofficial formation' which exists on an ad hoc basis as it is needed .
eg; if I want to run a lesson on break contact drills I need at least six bodies to 'demonstrate' how the drill works . usually we would have the class sitting somewhere with the demonstration squad roleplaying through the drill in sight of the class in response to a signal .. eg shots (blanks) fired .
.. usually the squad would be thrown together from other NCOs who are not delivering lessons at the time I'd need them, but if I am delivering a larger lesson (eg night platoon harbours ) I'd need a whole platoon (including three sections with machinegun teams and a 'demo' platoon headquarters) .. for this I might have to rope in a few cooks, medics, admin clerks and drivers to make up a whole 'platoon'.

The D&E platoon has it's own stores list (enemy uniforms and equipment ) and armoury (enemy weapons or training models of enemy mines IED etc ) ... so yes it is somewhat of a "ghost Platoon" that exists without having a nominal roll .

If I may say; the standing 'D&E platoon' of Canungra LWC (the jungle warfare training school for the Australian Army) had a dodgy reputation as a penal colony of retrobate NCOs who were made to "D&E" pretty much constantly in harsh conditions of the school for the busy schedule this training group had in the 80's .

I'll have to read further ; I am wondering if this was a D&E platoon attached somehow to, or comprised from the AATTV training camp just north of 'the horseshoe' feature in Phuoc Tuy province .? .... but would not have been actually part of the 1ATF .

jimmila wrote:If I may say; the standing 'D&E platoon' of Canungra LWC (the jungle warfare training school for the Australian Army) had a dodgy reputation as a penal colony of retrobate NCOs who were made to "D&E" pretty much constantly in harsh conditions of the school for the busy schedule this training group had in the 80's .

And had a reputation for nightly supporting the Sargent's Mess until all hours before wandering home to the married quarters area on base were they mostly lived only to be on parade next morning at 0600 bright eyed and bushy tailed!