Paul Naylor was 20 years old when he volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War.
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He grew up in the coal mining town of Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley, doing a few jobs after leaving school and spending time playing football and surfing.
"I was young and didn't have a care in the world," Mr Naylor, now of Narooma, said.
"I was a young fella, newly married.
"I was after job security. There was job security in the Defence Forces."
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When Mr Naylor arrived in Vietnam in 1970 he was scared initially.
"There was no front line," he said.
"They all dressed the same, talked the same, looked the same and behaved the same way.
"Anything could happen, anytime, anywhere."
Mr Naylor served with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment in the Phuoc Tuy province on the coast, east of what was then Saigon.
He worked with the infantry on reconnaissance, worked with engineers to clear the dirt and gravel roads in the bush, set up ambushes and did liaison work with village chiefs.
"We did cordon and search, looking for arms and caches of food.
"If you found a cache of food, you knew somebody was going to come to pick it up.
"Some villagers worked in the villages by day and for the Viet Cong at night."
His first tour lasted 12 months.
"I was wounded and not fit enough to return for a second tour."
The homecoming
Mr Naylor had mixed emotions about coming home.
"It was a relief to see the family, but you were leaving your mates who are your second family - they looked after you and you looked after them - and I was unsure what kind of reception we would get from people when we got home."
The Vietnam conflict was the first war to be televised. The public had only seen the Korean and Malayan wars through film clips.
Any Australian solider will tell you the best sound they ever heard was the sound of the rotors on the helicopters coming to pick them up.
- Paul Naylor, Vietnam veteran
When he and his comrades flew into Sydney Airport it was to a hostile reception.
"They yelled abuse - called us baby-killers and rapists - and threw balloons of urine at us."
Mr Naylor said the news being relayed to Australia was coming from the US and "we were getting tarred with the same brush".
"There were rumours, like there have been in Afghanistan. We knew what they [the media] were saying about us was wrong."
PTSD
Like many other servicemen, Mr Naylor battles with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"There are so many triggers that will set the PTSD off," he said.
"You don't know when they are going to happen or what is going to happen or what is going to trigger it.
"You never get rid of it until the day you die."
Mr Naylor's last military posting was in Victoria and he often holidayed in Narooma where he met other Vietnam veterans.
He moved to Narooma when he finished his service.
Mr Naylor said he kept in contact with his fellow soldiers and was certainly proud of being a Vietnam veteran.
After more than 50 years, what does Mr Naylor think of when he hears the words Vietnam War?
"Confrontation. Politics. It stirs up emotions."
The Narooma RSL sub-branch will mark Vietnam Veterans Day at Club Narooma War Memorial at 3pm on Thursday, August 18.
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