We woke up on October 1, had a leisurely breakfast and got ready to move out to our L Z. The choppers were coming to pick us up for the last time. 4 & a Wakey to go. As we moved towards the final pickup the feeling was strange ... we had beat the NVA and VC each time we had met them, but now we were leaving ... we knew the South Vietnamese couldn't hold out against a determined North Vietnam backed by Russia. And here we were abandoning them. There was very little discipline left in the Platoon as we moved towards our final LZ ... it almost felt like the Platoon was on the edge of revolt.

As we sat at the edge of the Jungle for the last time, we heard the sound of the choppers in the distance. Over the radio came the request "Throw smoke!" The response was given "Smoke thrown". "I see orange smoke". "Orange confirmed". Low and from the south the stick of choppers came in at tree top level and settled in the L Z. Normally we would have run for the choppers and been out of there in an instant ... today we leisurely strolled towards our choppers and climbed aboard. The order was given to throw smoke when we were airborne ... gunships would come in and strafe the area.

We climbed into the sky and circled so that a smoke grenade could be thrown ... smoke grenades poured from every chopper, along with white phosphorous, grenades ... we emptied clips of ammunition into the J. The radio was going berserk, everyone was going to be on a charge ... we all laughed as we looked at the scene below, it looked like a rainbow jungle. With our last hurrah finished, we settled back for the ride to Nui Dat and looked longingly at the long green below ... that was our home, we felt foreign out of the J.

The last units from 3 RAR arrived back at Nui Dat at 1800 and 3 RAR ceased to be operational in South Vietnam.

We had a BBQ and a few beers that night. The Platoon was pretty quiet. I drew a turn on gun picket ... it was strange sitting in the sandbagged pillbox looking west to the Long Hais, knowing the enemy were sitting up there on picket duty looking down at Nui Dat. With land mines and barb wired entaglements between me and them ... I still felt alone and scared for the first time in Vietnam ... I was out of my element ... I felt naked on the edge of the base. I was glad when my shift finished ... it was probably one of the few times that I stayed awake for a full gun picket.

Yet more strange experiences awaited us all.