Our First Leave

We had been out in the J for about six weeks when we heard that RC [Rest in Country] leave was coming up. The first news that we heard was that Alpha Company had gone on leave to Vung Tau. A few days later Bravo Company took off to Vungers. Then we heard that Delta Company were down in Vungers. Hey Alpha, Bravo, Delta ... where did you guys learn your alphabet. There is a letter missing in the middle. OK we must be next. Whether it was right or wrong I don't know, but we heard that Alpha Company were going again ... No way hosé! We sat down in the J and refused to move. Finally we were told that Charlie Company would be going on leave. Choppers were sent in to pick us up and we headed back to Nui Dat.

Back at the Dat we got out of our stinking greens, cleaned up, had a few beers and got ready for our first trip to Vungers.

The next morning we were paraded on the main road ready to board the trucks to go down to pleasures of Vung Tau. Lt Col Scott came down to address the Company. We thought that it was strange that Scotty would want to address us, but we were willing to listen to Scotty if it meant getting to Vungers. Scotty waffled on about us being ambassadors for Australia in a foreign country etc. etc. Then he finally got to the point "and when you are finished drinking in the bars over here, you Don't try to Burn them down!". Some of the members of the Company looked confused, but you could hear the sniggers coming from 7 Platoon and from some of the 8 & 9 Platoon blokes who regularly drank with the Goons. [refer to The Swimming Cat if you don't know what he was talking about]. And so they handed out our condoms [they made great balloons] and we boarded the trucks and headed off to the Peter Badcoe Club at Vung Tau.

When we arrived at the Badcoe Club we were paraded again, instructed on all the things that we couldn't do [we took note of these 'cause they all sounded like good things to do], relieved of our weapons and shown where our rooms were. Changing into civvies and unarmed we ventured into Vung Tau. It felt really strange to be in civvies and without our weapons. We immediately found the street of bars.

Here we found out about Saigon Tea, Uk da loi, Buko blue dick and more. We were overcharged, taken advantage of and robbed on the first day. We came back to the Badcoe Club that night feeling like chastened children.

The next day the Charlie Company hit Vung Tau again. This time we really did hit Vung Tau. There were fights, it is rumoured that we got our first confirmed kill in a back street behind a bar, we robbed the nogs, took advantage of the bar girls, and our sergeant came back in chains and manacles after beating up some meatheads [Military Police]. Now we felt at home. We didn't burn any bars down, but the Moose told us at the Adelaide reunion that the guards at the Badcoe Club were instructed to take note of our flag. Whenever they saw that flag they were to cancel all leave for the Military Police and to put the base on stand by, because it was them coming back to town.

Back in the trucks we headed back to the Dat laughing and chatting about our experiences in Vungers. Most of us had bruises and we all had hangovers, so we must have had a good time. We re-armed, re-equipped and headed back to the J for another six weeks, happy in the knowledge that our first leave had ended up a success. Next time we would have some more surprises ready for the residents of Vung Tau. See you in 6 weeks!