When I was a young soldier, a few years after Vietnam, there were two members of the DS on my initial training who had been involved in the battle of Long Tan. One as a member of D Coy, one as a member of B Coy who went out to support them. They discussed the battle and lessons learned with us.
The simple facts were that 6 RAR was carrying out aggressive clearing patrols around the defensive position, the 1ATF base, as is standard Australian Army doctrine. There had been some small groups of VC found by earlier patrols. D Coy then bumped a much larger force - at least ten times their size - and in the course of an intense battle and with a lot of well-directed artillery and some air support, and then with reinforcement from A and D Coy and APCs, and in the best traditions of the Australian Army, drove them from the field.
According to our DS you do your job, trust to your training and trust the blokes around you, even when it seems that everything is going to sh t. From these blokes, that was a powerful message.
