Lt Gary McKay returned to active duty in February 1972 but discovered that he could perform very little except clerical work. Nevertheless, in March he was posted to an assault pioneer platoon and was sent to the Infantry Centre at Ingleburn NSW to attend the course for pioneer officers and senior NCOs. This he passed, despite being unable to complete the more physically demanding sections of the curriculum. In April he returned to 4RAR in Townsville. At the request of Major Jerry Taylor, who was now the battalion’s operations and training officer, he conducted a basic pioneer course for his unit and for 2RAR.
By May, recurring pain had caused him to undergo exhaustive examination by specialists at I Military Hospital, Brisbane. He was offered a choice—either an artificial joint which would mean being unfit for duty in the infantry, or an arthrodesis (fixing the arm to the shoulder blade) with restricted movement as a result. He chose the latter because his medical record suggested that rejection of the artificial joint was a distinct possibility. Later that month, during a four hour operation at I Military Hospital, bone grafts from his hip were used to fix his arm to his shoulder blade. After six months in a plaster cast, he was discharged from hospital on 23 November 1972. In all, he had spent a total of nearly a year in hospital and had been operated on three times.
He returned to Townsville. After a month, he was posted to the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra as an instructor. There he served with his colleague Lt Dan McDaniel and his ex-commanding officer from 4RAR, Colonel Jim Hughes, who was now the commandant. By the end of 1973 he had returned to his normal weight, been medically upgraded, and been allowed to remain in the infantry.
Life was back to normal. Gary McKay was soldiering on.