Product Description
by Tony Ey (Author)
This story is based on numerous real life experiences of the Royal Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Team 3 (RANCDT3), which served in South Vietnam from 1967 to 1971. It is the author's intention to provide a quite accurate insight into what it was like to be a serving Australian Navy 'Clearance Diver' in South Vietnam during the late '60s and early '70s. Their professionalism, their at times unconventional behavior, their ever present sense of humour and most importantly, their willingness, bordering on obsession, to confront life-threatening danger head on, were all fundamental ingredients of what made these men stand out from the crowd.
Author Biography
The author joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1965 and spent the following 20 years as a Clearance Diver, retiring as a senior Chief Petty Officer in 1985. His brothers, Mike and David and his son Jason all joined the ranks of Navy Frogmen thus making 4 members of the Ey family to serve as Clearance Divers. Career highlights included; - being a member of the 8th and final Clearance Diving Team to serve in South Vietnam during 1970 & 1971. - 12 months as senior Demolitions Instructor in the RAN and numerous postings to operational diving teams. - Personnel Exchange Program with the USN based in Hawaii from 1977 to 1980. - diving in such magnificent locations as the Great Barrier Reef, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Truk lagoon, Kwajalein, Hawaii and the Caribbean. - obtaining a US Pilot's Licence. - qualifying for US Navy Parachute wings at Lakehurst, New Jersey. - several SPECWAREXs with US Special forces. After leaving the Navy he worked for a short time in the southern United States demolishing bridges using specialised explosives and on returning to Australia, was employed by Dupont Explosives as their Specialty Blasting Manager (during this period he developed a commercial 'shaped charge' for Dupont which was patented worldwide) and afterwards had a business in Hanoi, Vietnam, until his retirement in 1997. The author holds both US and Australian Pilot licenses with multi-engine endorsements. His hobbies include writing, international travel, photography, spending time in the Queensland 'Outback' and riding his Harleys in both Queensland and the western United States.
