Late in March and late in Blue Ridge's third WestPac, the military and political situation in Cambodia and South Vietnam had BR's operational plans in confusion as it was in the late March of 1972. The military advances of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the NVN proxies in South Vietnam were foreshadowing their eventual fate.

The beginning of the end: "The massive influx of civilian refugees into the Da Nang area precipitated a breakdown in law and order. ... on 30 March, that former bastion of American firepower fell to the Communists. ... collapsed without a shot being fired. ... Responsibility for this disaster would be laid at the doorstep of President Thieu. The catastrophic chain of events leading to the surrender of Da Nang resulted directly from the decision to abandon Military Region 2 and the ill-advised withdrawal of the Airborne Division from Military Region 1. ... [74] During the two-week period that Military Region I came apart at the seams, the United States took notice and decided to take action. ... The Marines of the III Marine Amphibious Force were the first to experience the effects of this reaction. ... The command had been concentrating its efforts on Eagle Pull with its sights set on the almost inevitable evacuation of Cambodia. The events in South Vietnam quickly rewrote the script and seemed to indicate that the III Marine Amphibious Force might have to double load its gun and do so without delay! " [75]