I remember one of the WOs (a CSM, IIRC, not the RSM) of my reserve unit (Sydney University Regiment) telling us of a couple of hair raising experiences he'd had in Vietnam ...
One that stuck in my mind was defending a firebase against a VC attack and firing one of the 105's over open sights just as you could see the whites of their eyes ... firing canister (or flechette, or whatever they used) ... and then hightailing it back to the reserve line before counterattacking and throwing the VC (or maybe NVA) back over the bodies of their dead.
He was in the AATV (Australian Army Training Team) and was there (in Vietnam) before the Nashos so I don't remember whether that incident was at a US Firebase or one of ours ... hair raising, however (he'd also had experience during 'Konfrontasi' but, apart from some disparaging marks about the Indonesian forces, never said much about that).
He didn't have a high opinion of the US
Army as a whole, but was
highly impressed by the US
Marines and
most of the US Special Forces he encountered ... I got the impression he thought that training standards for the US Infantry was not up to scratch.
I read some years later, in a book on the SW Pacific, that the Marines were generally highly impressed with Aussie soldiers, and thought of them as being 'as good' as Marines ... so I guess there must have been/still is some ongoing affinity
And, of course, as I have mentioned elsewhere, Aussie soldiers love taking the mickey out of the Marines by warning them of the ferocious wildlife when they come here for exercises/training
Phil