

By Greg 'Spike' Dwiar
B Coy 2nd Tour
I was sent to Vietnam as a reinforcement
on 13th May 1969 and spent the first 3
weeks at 1 ARU, (Army Re-Enforcement
Unit) and was posted to B Company 5RAR
on 4th June along with about 10 other
Reos' (Reinforcements). We were
allocated to either 4, 5 or 6 platoons.
I was put into 6 platoon. After meeting
all the 'old hands' it was down to
settling in and adjusting to the way it
was done and a new learning process was
about to begin.
The first day was spent collecting
weapons, webbing, ammo etc. being shown
where the weapon pits were, the 'gun
position' for night pickets, and all the
little things that you had to know and
remember that were important for harmony
within my new group for the next 12
months,
The next day started with a refresher
training course on what the Company had
learned from their last operation that
had just finished. D Company was
Ready-Reaction Company (on stand by),
and B Company was on standby (backup).
Just after lunch we heard that D Company
had been sent to Binh Ba to assist in a
contact that had occurred between the VC
and a troop of
Centurion tanks. We were then put on
30-minute stand by to saddle up and help
out. Around 1400hrs (2.PM) that
afternoon we were on the
APCs and heading towards Binh Ba.
We were setup as a blocking force on the
Southern side of the village and secured
the area from Route 2 to the perimeter
of the Rubber Plantation, and from what
I would call a safe distance, witnessed
the battle that had been going on for
some time, it was the first time that I
had seen the awesome fire power of the
'Bushranger Gunships', and the
destruction that they were capable of.
This attack lasted for some time and
finished late in the afternoon.
That night we were to harbour up in the
bottom corner of the rubber trees along
with Company HQ. 4 and 5 platoons were
set up in blocking positions along the
length of the rubber trees. Pickets were
set and rostered for the night and I was
to share my shift with Don Campbell the
Section Commander from 0400hrs (4am)
till 0600hrs (6am)I have to admit I
didn't sleep too deep that night, not
quite sure what was going to happen,
looking and listening out into the
darkness and thoughts going through my
mind how to handle a contact, do I
remember the drill? All the things I had
been told and practiced back at
Singleton and Ingleburn during training.
Remember to aim low in the darkness,
don't drop the front of the rifle, but
lift the butt more, I had a couple of
magazines all laid out in case I needed
them in a hurry. All was quiet during
the night until about 0230hrs (2:30am)
when 4 Platoon had a contact some 200
metres from our position. After that I
think that was when I learnt how to
sleep with my eyes and mind open. Don
and myself were woken to replace the
last piquet. We moved onto the
M60 for our shift.
We talked quietly between ourselves with
Don taking the gun and me as No2. Don
gave me plenty of reassurance as to what
to do and how I should assist him if
needed, at that stage the adrenaline was
still running high but Don made me feel
confident.
The rest of the night was quiet until
0600hrs, (6am) when Don gave me a nudge
and said that someone is out in front of
us, we could hear their voices, talking
loudly and hurriedly amongst themselves,
the next thing the
M60 opened up and fired towards the
voices, not the 5 round bursts that we
had done in practice back home but a
continuous burst, maybe 20 - 50 rounds,
do you know how loud a
M60 sounds from that distance?
At that stage I picked up my
SLR
and started to fire at where the enemy
were located. There were red tracer
going from our position and green tracer
coming back in from theirs. At one stage
I heard an almighty whoosh. I found out
later on that it was a
RPG
( Rocket Propelled Grenade), and it must
have gone straight through our position
and landed outside somewhere as I never
heard it explode.
When the contact was finished and
daylight became stronger, we went out to
do a search and sweep of the area, and
came to where they were positioned but
failed to find any dead or wounded. In
fact not even a blood trail; The only
thing we found was the spot where they
were firing from. All the rubber trees
were bleeding white sap or latex at
least seven or eight feet from the
ground. So much for trying to aim low,
but they returned us the same favour.
It suddenly dawned on me that I was
outside the harbour perimeter and had
not changed over my magazine from the
initial contact. I took it off, put it
in my map pocket and quickly replaced it
with a fresh magazine. We returned to
the harbour and had a quick breakfast
and brew, and at that stage I had
started to settle down and get myself
back to normal.
It was during my brew that I wondered to
myself how many shots had I fired off
during my first contact. I pulled the
magazine out of my pocket and noticed
that it was heavy and still had a couple
of rounds in it, so I started to flick
out the remaining bullets to work out
how many shots I had fired in anger. I
pushed out 1-2-3-4-5-6, there were still
some in there, 7-8-9-10-11, what's going
on I thought, 12-13-14-15-16, I couldn't
work this out 17-18-19-20, a full
magazine, still unable to work it out I
checked all my magazines, nine still
full and one on the
SLR,
I checked that one out and it was full
as well, 200 rounds accounted for, the
same amount I was issued before we left
the 'Dat', at that stage it dawned on me
when I realised, that when the initial
contact happened at 0600hrs, amid all
the excitement, I had forgotten to take
the safety catch off in the first place!
I had stuffed up in my first contact and
never mentioned it to anyone until quite
a few years later at a ANZAC Day reunion
and it still brings a few laughs.
TALES FROM THE TIGER
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