About *AUS*
"If it wasn't for you blokes, the Aussie VC community would have died a long time ago."
History Of Vietcong
2003: Foundations
*AUS*'s Vietcong division was founded by Ice Cannon on the 1/02/2003. Within a couple of weeks 13 members filled the roster. We seemed to have it easy recruiting wise - other clans complained at how it was hard. Players such as Beer Baron, Spetz Naz, Sw1fty, Paul (Spartan) and BattleBorn were among the first to join our ranks.
On the 21st of February the wars began, *AUS* took on <DC> in the multiplayer demo in what was one of the first clan matches in Australia. Paul (Spartan), ICE CaNNoN, Wildcat and Spetz Naz made up the *AUS* attack. *AUS* ran home winners 4-1 in a match that featured ICE CaNNoN attacking with the sniper rifle and some great defending skills from Paul (Spartan) and Wildcat.
The recruiting continued. Then came the best thing that Wildcat could have ever done - he recruited a fellow named Ace, who played Vietcong as if it was a hooker and he was a rich man that couldn't get any. He would play on USA servers to improve his skills. On the first day he joined, we were short a member in our match against {RKn}. It seemed unfair to have him walk into a match just joining hours before, with others training so hard. But he got a run and he owned - he defended the stream entry to the US flag as if it was his home.
Other greats that were born in that game included BeerBaron (BABYSHAKER), Overlord and Cow Killer. The game ended up a 1-1 draw and was one of the most thrilling games ever, with Cow Killer and Overlord sniping like heroes.
We played {RKn} again 2 weeks later, settling the score with a 2-1 win. Jios, I like Shrimp and Diesel accompanied us to that victory. RKn was a common foe back then as the games were so close and were played in the best spirit. We faced them again in another 3 weeks another 3 legends were born - Fate, Justice and Ranger Bob. They helped *AUS* to a 1-0 victory.
That was to be *AUS*'s last match in the demo. We attempted to play other demo teams such as TFA (now [Z]) but the games never came to fruition.
With the clan off to the best possible start it was time to make a decision on who would lead the division. After much deliberation between Camouflage, ICE CaNNoN and Wildcat, Ace was appointed division commander on the 1/04/2003. He showed tremendous commitment and skill on the battlefield and met all other requirements.
Vietcong was awarded Division of the Month in April for being the most organised and tight-knit bunch of players I'd ever seen. Ace also was awarded Player of the Month for his strong leadership and dedication. Ace reached #1 in csports.net worldwide Vietcong rankings and it was a safe bet that Ace was the number one Vietcong fan at the time.
Also during this period, Ace and ICE CaNNoN worked very hard at starting some Australian Vietcong tournaments through TheBattleground, which *AUS*'s Delta Force Division was already heavily involved with.
Our first match in the full version of Vietcong was against [SASR] on Arroyo. This marked Gunther and Nads' first match and *AUS* came out on top 6-0.
Things were going great: servers were full; cheats were minimal; everyone was friendly most of the time. Then came the =Oz= match in July where the division ran into some controversy.
The server dropped out a couple of times and the language used by several =OZ= members was far from impressive. *AUS* decided to give the win to =OZ= to save splitting the Aussie VC community and were eliminated from their first tournament - TheBattleground Aus Only CTF. Although a disappointing result, *AUS* members walked away with their heads held high.
*AUS*'s consolation prize was being given the opportunity to become official beta testers for Pterodon, Vietcong's developers. Even now (in 2005), members still enjoy every minute of testing new maps, patches and add-ons such as Red Dawn. Pterodon even put the following text into one of the data files: "Help me! Kill all those AUS-squad members!"
We then took on =]tAg[=, who were a prominent MOHAA and BF:1942 clan in Arroyo CTF a few days later. They were angels compared to our previous experience. They were great sports - it was a pleasure to play them.
Nyx and Kaj joined *AUS*, bringing a fast server and solving our problems with trainings. We started hosting servers of *AUS* vs All. Having 6-8 *AUS* players against 25 of the public was exhilarating to say the least!
Unsavoury also joined, bringing with him a 10mb ADSL server. This sparked the start of the *AUS* public servers, which were running daily. Camouflage coded a server stats page for the server which saw a jump in players playing on it.
In November 2003, Call of Duty was released and many players and clans started to lose interest in Vietcong. Things looked like they were going to go downhill, but patch 1.4 was released and provided custom map support.
Before we knew it, the year had come to a close and Ace, our beloved Commander decided to step down and take a break from the game. Ace led us to many triumphs and he lead with diplomacy that surpasses most politicians. Whenever anyone else was steamed up, he thought with a cool head and made the right decisions.
"*AUS* have done a lot for the VC community from the start and the Australian community wouldn't have been the same without the start you guys gave it."
[VV] Inemo
Ace's help to the community didn't end with *AUS*. Ace made friends in USA servers and became a beta tester. Ace also became a team leader of the United Admins Vietcong anti cheat team. He worked in conjunction with Pterodon, UA and a team of members to help create the HradBa anti cheat software. He worked very hard on this, often chatting to the makers of Vietcong directly over ICQ.
Ace was a great friend to the whole Vietcong community. A big thanks goes to him for all of his efforts! You're a legend Ace.
Ice CaNNoN, who was the initial temporary Vietcong Commander took over the role. >> Cont. 2004: A relaxed approach