07/07/1977 - Snippets from a fading memory - Part 1

48 years ago today I clocked in at 2 Field Engineering Regiment, Bethlehem, to start my 12 month conscription in the South African Defense Force. Within 6 weeks, this was upgraded to 24 months. No matter, it would turn out to be the best two years of my single life. I would make life long friends, I would become the fittest I would ever be in my life, and I would overcome fears I did not even know existed.

Just arrived, and off to the stores to get fitted out with your kit. Then off to find the bungalow you had been allocated, and meet the guys you would be spending the next few months, maybe a year with.

It was a mild winters day when we all boarded the train at the Milpark station in Johannesburg. It was a terribly cold winters day when we arrived and disembarked in Bethlehem. Till then, I did not even know that it could get so cold! Over the next few weeks, the cold would show all it's might, especially when doing those 2 - 4 am guard duties, and even more so if you happened to draw one of the points that were completely exposed to the weather, like the graveyard. Go figure, the graveyard shift at the graveyard!

Running the MMI at 4 am, in black PT shorts, a T-shirt and socks and takkies I believed that it would be the death of me. But we ran, and survived.

I met so many different guys, Afrikaans speaking farm boys, weed smoking Durbanites, some guy, strong as an ox, with a bad limp was a fisherman from the west coast.  He wasn't supposed to be there due to his bad limp, but insisted he wanted to do his bit.

Everyone came there with one purpose, to do their national service. Not long, and we were all there to support each other, go ensure we had each others backs, and to give the best we had in us.

I have fond memories of the telephone booths we used to call home. If I remember correctly, there were 2 side by side. I also remember how the guys who had older brother who had done their service before, had showed them how to make a "long Tickey"! Basically, a coin on a piece of gut, which you put into the money slot, till it registered, then withdrew it and used it again! Not sure the SAPO made much money there. I remember the queues at these phone booths, and when it was your turn to phone, the damn thing would ring, and it was someone's girlfriend calling for him. This was an easy fix. If the phone rang as I was about to pick it up, I would lift the receiver, and say (in Afrikaans) - "Good evening, Bethlehem morgue, how can I help you?" or, "Bethlehem maternity ward" - and they would hang up. Then quickly hang up and lift the receiver so I could make my call.

I remember receiving letters from home, and having to do push up's if the letters smelt nice - cause if you received a letter from the girlfriend, it would usually be dosed in perfume, the corporal would pick up on the scent, and you would have to pay to get it - pay as in "Do 20 push ups!" - and we did.

The food wasn't so great, but edible, and enough. When I didn't really like what was dished up, I made up for it by eating bread. No problem.

Not sure when, probably around week 6, we were allowed to have a beer. And it was then that the news came through that our 12 month call up was being extended to 24 months! Although a bit of a shocker for us, it affected our "ou manne" even more, as they were in the last phase of their 12 months. I have a vague memory of them going absolutely bat shit, and we had to clear out the mess / pub area!

No matter - training was hard, and we had to ensure our buddies kept up, So we would run an MMI (Mile and a half) and had to do it in a certain time. If you didn't make the cut off, you ran again. That was okay, but became a problem when if one or more of the guys didn't make the cut off, EVERYONE had to run again. This taught us to support each other, encourage each other, make sure that everyone did their best, and more, till we would all arrive within the cut off time.

I have memories of cleaning the bungalow, and getting everything ready for inspection in the morning - sleeping under the bed so we didn't have to make them up again in the morning, and waking up to the corporals shouting, and dumping fire buckets of water across the shiny polished floors.

A lot of what was done and what happened didn't seem to make sense at the time, except of pleasing a deranged corporal, but in hind sight, it was all part of building resilience, team building, working together - ultimately - to make sure we all looked out for each other, and would be able to face any situation!

On night, still early in basics, someone burnt the veld next door to the camp. Next morning, after the MMI, and while it was still dark, they made us leopard crawl through the burnt veld. Apart from very dirty clothes, and troops, there was the problem of the now short, stiff burnt grass cutting through the skin. Trust me when I say we were a sorry mess when we returned to our bungalows to change for breakfast after that stint. But we survived.

Training with telephone gum poles was another test. To see if we could work together, run in step with each other, and carry our part. Fun? I think not. Funny? Only when we were dropped about 10km outside of town and told to run back to camp, with our poles. One bunch decided to get clever, stopped in at a farm, borrowed a saw, and cut their pole into 4 pieces, one piece each. Easier to carry and run with. Needless to say they paid for that in blood. Their "opfok" PT lasted well into the night.

End of basics, and they had a parents day. We set up the field with all our military stuff, as well as a part of a Bailey bridge which we would assemble as part of a show. Bets part of the day for me, apart from seeing my parents who had made the trip (we were allowed our first weekend pass afterwards) was meeting some of my mates sisters! Damn brother, (Wally? from Meyerton?),I was so glad I helped him through some of those challenges, and so he was happy to introduce me to his parents, AND his hot sister!

First time at the shooting range, I saw a corporal jump on some guys back, and hard. He had a misfire, and was turning around to ask for assistance - ignoring the training that said "You lay your rifle down, facing the front, raise your hand and wait for someone to come and help you!"

I forgot to mention that 98% of all communication was in Afrikaans - this didn't phase me as I was (and still am) as fluent in Afrikaans as I was in English. But some of those souties, especially the guys from the Durban area, they struggled, and many times paid the price for not understanding.

Training in explosives, and land mines was the highlight of my basics. I loved every minute of it, and couldn't wait till we got to "play" with some of the nasty stuff.

Basics finished, we got a weekend pass every 2 or 3 weeks. It was a matter of hitch hiking home on Friday afternoon, and back again on Sunday night. Those days, almost everyone would pick up a soldier in uniform, and take home safely as far as they were going.  It helped to convey to the driver where you were going, or, like me on one occasion, I ended up in Potch! an hour away from home, and they had driven right past my home town - but I was asleep in the back! Another time, I got a lift from 2 girls in a VW beetle - and suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, they just stopped the car. Then, opening a bottle of champagne, we celebrated the car going over 1 million kilometers! Fun times.

When December approached, some of us were hoping that we would be lucky enough to get the right weekend pass, and at least get to spend some Xmas time with the family. Alas, it was not to be. 2 Weeks before Christmas (more or less) we were shipped north - SWA here we come! Oh, and it was also after basics that we were told we could grow a moustache if we wanted to. I did - and have had one ever since!

So, off with the Flossie to the war. Some level of excitement, but also concern, as we didn't really know what to expect, which camps we would be shipped out to, what we would find. But this is what we had trained for, and we had been properly prepared.

 

More on this later….maybe….I don't really tell war stories….but the above memories will stir many emotions amongst me peers.