A mate is one of the 1st APC lads who drove an M113 into the firefight. He still starts to shake anytime you ask him anything about the experience.
Anyone who has been in combat knows that's it's nothing like the movies - the dust, the smoke, the tracers, the flying lead, the explosions, all leave one in a stupor as to what is actually going on, and what to do next.
In addition, the skies opened in a torrent that only SVN can do, in the late afternoon of the battle. Talk about getting everything thrown at you at once.
One must never forget that all the Aussie grunts, not just the Long Tan heroes, effectively won the war in Phuoc Tuy province, due to their skills and effective patrolling.
I recall reading an interview many years ago, with a surviving NVA D445 Battalion officer - and he let on that the Aussies were such an effective force, that they decimated D445 to a total strength of just THREE men, by 1971.