On 10 August we moved out of Nui Dat and headed up to Xuyen Moc again. Almost immediately Bravo Company ran into elements of D445 in a bunker system North of the village. It took a fair bit to dislodge the Nogs, they seemed determined to stay there.

We were working to the South of Xuyen Moc. On 12 August 1971, 8 Platoon found their own bunker system. These were local Xuyen Moc guerillas and 8 Platoon winkled them out of the bunkers. There was something strange about these contacts ... they were all within the civilian boundaries of Xuyen Moc village. The Nogs must have known that we would find them there ... and that we wouldn't let them stay there. Why would they take the risk? They weren't strong enough to resist us. Twenty eight years later I may have found the answer to that question ... it appears that the North Vietnamese knew more about our political situation than we did. They knew that we would be leaving soon. As far as we knew we still had 5 more months to go.

We continued searching the area around Xuyen Moc, scrub bashing, ambushing, looking for sign ... but we found no further sign of the enemy entering the civilian access area around the village. On 18 August the Prime Minister announced that all Australian combat troops would be withdrawn from South Vietnam by Christmas 1971, and that the Third Battalion Royal Australian Regiment would be among the first to depart. We were leaving in October. From 150 and a Wakey ... we were suddenly down to 48 and a Wakey. We were now really short. The official journal notes that "The Battalion almost to a man was jubilant at the thought of being home with their families by Christmas."

Whoever wrote that wasn't sitting in the J with 7 Platoon when the news came through. I can't talk for all the Goons, but I and a few others weren't all that happy. We had settled in here, we were comfortable in the Jungle, we didn't fear Charlie ... we looked forward to meeting him in battle, we knew how to fight him in his element. Many of us had talked of extending our tour by transferring to another Battalion when 3 RAR went home (my future brother in law did, in fact, transfer to 4RAR). You should have seen us by now, headbands, beaded necklaces, bands of ammunition around our arms, tie down hunting knives, sleeves ripped out of our shirts ... yes we were Rambo, 25 years before Sylvester Stallone ever portrayed the character in the movies. We were barely civilised ... we were closer to jungle animals than civilised western men. This is how we lived, how we fought, how we survived.

Going back to the world wasn't all that appealing to some of us ... here we were young lions, lords of all that we surveyed ... back in the world we were clerks, junior staff ... saying Yes Sir, No Sir to fat bespectacled grey suited old men ... here we could shoot them if they annoyed us. No ... not all of the Battalion was jubilant at going home ... especially the bush soldiers.

We continued to search until 22 August when we returned to Nui Dat.