Troopie Letter [The Witness, 2008-06-16]

Publication: The Witness Issued: Date: 2008-06-16 Reporter: Ettiene Jacques Van Coller

Troopie Letter

Publication	The Witness
Date	2008-06-16
Reporter	Ettiene Jacques Van Coller
Web Link	www.witness.co.za

I am currently working in Iraq,and a resident in Pietermaritzburg. This letter was e-mailed to me by a unknown person. It really makes you think.....

ADDENDUM TO NEWSLETTER 353 - APRIL 2008

The document set out below was sent to the Scribe by our Vice Chairman who received it from an unknown source. We have included it as written in the Newsletter as it sets out very bluntly what the contribution of the National Serviceman was in those long years of conscription and war in SWA and Angola.

The National Serviceman

The troopie...................We built the bloody place and are oh so sad to see it crumbling apart!!

We are the National Service generation. The youngest of us is about 35 and the oldest of us are in to our 60's.We built the New South Africa! We are the generation who provided our time to the nation in many different ways. Many of our dads and granddads had Africa Stars and other 1939-45 war medals. We sometimes got a Pro-Patria, but now are just getting contempt and denigration and a kick in the butt.

We were a polyglot bunch made up of many nationalities, thrust together and welded into a fairly damn effective outfit. Some 300 000 of us were born on the wrong side of history.

Today, we are branded as the "baby killers" of Africa. That is, of course, if anyone even remembers us and our contribution.

From ages of seventeen and whatever, we took time out from lives, loves, jobs, education and "normal things" and donned nutria brown. We were subjected to the rigours of "Basics" and many of us chose to endure even further hardships of advanced training, as leaders, special forces, parabats, mecchies, ops medics and a multitude of other specialities. We learnt quickly and assumed the mantle of professionals, all within a very short time. We performed! 18, 19 and 20 year-olds carried out the tasks, which, in other military forces, would be carried out by seasoned career professionals. We did the business as youngsters!

We served in so many ways, sometimes enthusiastically and sometimes with no great fervour. Many endured the peculiar experience of Border duties. Heat and dust (sometimes cold and mud), mozzies, snakes and crap food. The odd mixture of tedium, interspersed with bouts of high adrenaline and occasional arse-clamping terror. And the camaraderie that lasts a lifetime.

Others kept the system working, as clerks, storemen, chefs, drivers and "maintainers" of many things. "Tiffies" of every sort abounded and we all developed special skills and insights. We met people from every strata, group and division in society. By and large we got on with one another. And these were experiences that stood us in good stead in later life.

We were no angels, more like lusty tomcats with a terrible thirst! But we did the needful and did not shoot or "frag" our officers. After initial service, we resumed our "civvy" lives and became the students, farmers, apprentices, trainees, learner officials and office juniors of the working world. Later on, we became the shift bosses, sparkies, plumbers, miners, doctors, technicians, accountants and middle managers of the country. In the mining industry, we made a lot of people in London very rich. As engineers, we kept the ESCOM grid alive and expanding, bringing electricity to the furtherest reaches of the country, without blackouts. Also, as engineers we built some of the finest structures in Africa and completed projects of the greatest complexity, in the face of sanctions and fuel restrictions.

We built hospitals and staffed them with world-class doctors, nurses and other professionals and kept places like Bara and Natalspruit open under full-scale war conditions. We built schools and colleges, with world-class educationalists. We built an international and commercial powerhouse in Africa, the only one! We were leaders, creators and innovators. We made things happen! We "made a plan". And still later, we continue to lead, build, protect and make things happen - all over the world. Many of us started or took over small businesses. Some were high-fliers and progressed rapidly through the corporate and business world.

Some too "crashed and burned" or took some wrong turns in their lives. They paid a price. We contributed too in wider society. As parents, members of the community, through churches, cultural groups, schools and universities, youth and sporting organizations we helped to build a wider community. Many of us were volunteers in a service capacity. Fire, ambulance, sea-rescue, life-saving, scouting, Voortrekkers, Rotary, Round Table, St Vincent de Paul, police reserve and a multitude of charities and groups all derived leadership, effort and support from our generation. Plenty of us were passionate about the environment and we did things about that too. Hopefully this legacy will last.

But lurking in the background was always nutria brown. From time to time, some more often than others, we got the call-up again. As part-time soldiers, we engaged in the last "hot battles of the cold war". Indirectly we helped to bring "the wall" down. We confronted Russians, Cubans and legions of "freedom fighters" of every description.

And some of them were tough. They gave us a run for our money. But we prevailed. Later on, we served in the townships. We maintained a form of stability and were often RESPECTED and WELCOMED.

This is an inconvenient fact that the "establishment" would seek to bury. In urban operations, we stood between warring factions. We protected ordinary residents as far as we could and separated violent ANC and Inkatha protagonists regularly. In so doing, some of us got hurt. The most effective units got vilified and succumbed to propaganda. We served in the countryside too and ensured that rural life and the farming communities could get on with the business of providing food to sub-Saharan Africa. Sometimes two or more generations served in the same Commando.

We also established the necessary stability to allow the 1994 elections to take place. These democratic elections would not/could not have happened without the "National Service" generation. It is worth adding that, in all of these conflicts, black and white soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder. And then national service ended. Some continued to serve in an integrated force and still do so. The whole nation reveled in the spirit of Rugby World Cup 1995. Reconciliation was the order of the day. A Rainbow Nation was born.

And now?

Bit by bit, it all seems to be sliding away. And the ENORMOUS contribution of the National Service Generation is being written out of history. If indeed it is included in history, then the "baby killer" tag is applied. This is pure revisionist claptrap. We built the Bloody Place!!!!

We have every right to be proud of our contribution. And we must make it known.

With acknowledgements to Ettiene Jacques Van Coller and The Witness.

The National Service Generation had nothing to do with Sharpeville on 21 May 1960.

The National Service Generation gave much of their youth to remedy the mess that had been caused by the previous generation(s); some gave their lives.