The Odd Angry Shot

Nagle, William. The Odd Angry Shot, Sydney : Angus &​ Robertson, 1979, c1975.
The Odd Angry Shot concentrates on a group of professional soldiers in the combat zone at the height of the Vietnam War. It is based on William Nagle’s own experience in 3 SAS Australian Army, portrays the boredom, mateship, humour, and fears of a group of Australian soldiers deployed to South Vietnam in the late 1960's. During the first weeks of their stay in Vietnam, their biggest enemies are mud, boredom and the never-ending torrential rains. But the real war strikes suddenly one night with an enemy mortar barrage which claims a number of casualties. Irony is the main means of suggesting the futility of war. The book is anti-heroic in tone with the emphasis on survival. The risks of combat are seen to be without purpose but the men do their job. The behaviour of the male group is within the ANZAC ethos of the anti-authoritarian, pragmatic digger and the ocker tradition of irreverent humour laced with sexist jokes.