The battalion was formed in July 1966 as part of an expansion of the Australian Army in the mid-1960s due to the perceived threat of Communism in southeast Asia.

Between November 1969 and October 1970 the battalion undertook operations as part of the 1st Australian Task Force, before being brought back to Australia.

8 RAR was formed at Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane on 14 July 1966 as part of the expansion of the Army during Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.

8 RAR's tour of South Vietnam ended in October 1970, by which time it had lost 18 men killed in action and suffered 108 wounded.

On the morning after the Australian Labor Party won the 1972 Federal Election the battalion, like all others in the Army, was ordered to discharge all conscripts who did not wish to remain.