The Australian Task Force orders prohibited the keeping of pets in unit lines. This was mainly for health reasons.

As usual, some of the soldiers accepted this as a challenge and contrived many way to keep illicit pets from authorities. These ranged from lizards in matchboxes, snakes in metal trunks and an assortment of mouse-like creatures in cardboard boxes. For animals that could not be easily concealed, such as monkeys, they usually requested permission on the basis that the pet would be kept as a unit mascot. However, because of the Task Force's orders, these requests were always refused.

One day some of my soldiers informed me that they had found a hive of bees in a tree and requested permision to keep them in unit lines in a box they would construct. They explained that this would provide a source of fresh honey and create an interest for the unit. Unable to visualise any health problems or other problems except a few bee stings, I gave permission. The soldiers then went off in a Landrover to collect the hive.

Upon their return I was curious to see the new unit acquisition. On peering into the the back of the Landrover I was amazed to see a pile of thousands of bees — all bright green

Amazed, I remarked that I never expected Vietnamese bees would be green. I was advised that they were not normally that colour — it was just that a green smoke grenade had been used to flush them out.