07/07/1977 - Snippets from a fading memory - Part 2

Arriving in Grootfontein, we disembarked and stood in formation. Quick instructions from whomever was in charge of us there, and we all got onto trucks for the trip North. It would be a long day, on the back of the truck (Samil?), but fortunately a tar road all the way, till we got to Ondangwa. Here we would overnight, and then the next day we would be divided up into our troops, and shipped off to wherever we would b spending at least the next 3 months.  On route to our destination camps, some us saw the remains of vehicles that had hit a landmine, and we were soon sobered up to the fact that this was now for real - no longer explosions in a controlled environment, watched or affected from a safe distance. Now we would be walking among them, over them, and hopefully not on them. This was the real deal.

My one funny memory of the drive to Ondangwa was seeing a black guy, in uncommon uniform, walking next to the road carrying a rifle! My immediate though was "Shoot him!", but luckily we had a rank on board with us, and when asked he explained that he was a friendly local, who was employed by our side. I forget what they were called, but he lived to fight another day! No racial innuendo, but he was an African, with a gun - and to me that meant he was probably the enemy. (Come to think of it, he was walking casually next to the road, so it should have been obvious he wasn't the enemy!)

I remember how hot it was up there. Much hotter than I had ever experienced back home. But it was fine - I don't like the cold, and after Bethlehem in the winter,I would never want to be cold again! But, as we would soon learn, the heat brought with it "miggies", millions of the damn pesky little shits! Had to learn to live with them too.

Another surprise was the "go-carts" and the "piss lilies". Strange names, but even stranger things. Had to get used to taking a crap sitting next to your buddy. And the tents, with the mosquito nets, the dust when the wind blew, the incredible night sky.

As Sappers, we were split up into troops of 10, and for some camps even less. Our task was to sweep the vehicles from camp to their destination. We were deployed with the infantry, and other groups in a camp. So we were the smallest unit in any camp, but received a lot of respect because of our task. One of us would be the representative for meetings and discussions with whomever was in charge of the camp, and not necessarily a ranked Sapper, sometime we just took it in turns.

Namibia, and especially the northern areas where we were deployed is stark, raw, and yet beautiful.  The sparse trees offered some comfort sitting in their shade at midday. The water holes ("Shauna's?), muddy grey in colour, was home to some really big barbers, and stories of the guys fishing with hand grenades abounded. Never di see that, but did watch the locals fishing with nets, and catching quite a few. They would clean them, and hang them up to dry, and then sell them of course. I didn't try to eat them back home, so wasn't going to try them there.

The "kuka shops" were a popular addition to any day out. Always had cold home made "beer"? Who the hell knows what was in it, some stories said they even put old torch batteries into the drum - no matter, we drank gallons of the stuff and are still here to tell the story. The were very clever, digging a hole deep beneath a tree, and storing the drink down in the ground, where it was cooler, and sprinkling water around the hole.

Swapping rations and a few Rand for a goat was a thing. Especially when we had been eating rat packs for more than a week, we would go to the nearest encampment, meet the owner / chief, and bargain with him for a goat. That goat on a braai fire that night tasted like the best Karoo lamb!

Cigarettes in camp were cheap, as was beer. Food was enough when in the camp, and if you made friends with the cook, you could often organise a steak from the officers menu!

The upside of being a Sapper was we didn't have to do guard duty - well not at the camp I was at anyway. On one occasion, when the infantry left the camp, and were replaced by their peers for the next 3 month stint, we had an issue with their commander (whatever his rank was). He decided that the Sappers should also stand guard! Well, it took me all of 5 minutes to get the radio room to contact our guy in Ondangwa, who immediately took this guy on, and explained that should he want to push the issue, we would be withdrawn from his camp, and he could do his own mine sweeping, or risk driving without sweeping the road. That stupid idea died a quick death!

Another funny situation arose when we did bunker inspection. Every once in a while, we would do inspection of the ammo bunkers, and more especially of the mortar pits. This was to check if there was any  ammunition that had started to "bleed", or leak as such. Usually, old ammo like mortars would be taken out of the camp to a pit, where it would then be detonated by us Sappers, using probably 4 times too much PE4 - for effect you know! The resulting boom would scare the crap out of the locals for at least 3 months, and the resulting hole would make for a new water hole, if it was nearing rainy season! Great fun!

However, one time we found some suspect mortars in the mortar pit - and we were not comfortable to move them. So, after a chat with the camp commander, they cleared the immediate area, and we set about placing some PE4 explosives on the mortars. This time we didn't overdo it though, realising that we could blow away half the camp! That too was a memorable bang, with dust flying high into the sky, and all the nearby tents covered in sand. No one was hurt, the infantry dug new mortar pits, and that hole was closed using the sand from the new diggings. Much fun was had by all involved!

With some effort, I might have a part 3.