Raised in 1957 during Communist subversion in South-East Asia, the small and little-understood SAS quickly become the Ugly Duckling of the Australian Army. But SAS proved itself in 1965 in the deniable jungle war in Borneo during Indonesian Konfrontasi. In 1966 in Vietnam it ravaged the Viet Cong, losing no soldiers to enemy action. In 1971 the SAS returned to Australia, whose new home defence policy threatened the SAS with closure.
