Troepie: From Call-up to Camps

Title: Troepie: From Call-up to Camps
Subtitle: South African National Service
Author: Cameron Blake
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Zebra Press
Cape Town, 2009
ISBN 9781770220515 / ISBN 978-1-77022-051-5
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 328 pages

About: Troepie: From Call-up to Camps

For over half a million white South African males conscripted before 1994, National Service was a compulsory, demanding and intense experience that had a powerful impact on them. Troepie: From Call-up to Camps is a compilation of recollections by more than forty former conscripts about their time in the South African Defence Force. The chapters take you through the sequence of a National Serviceman’s career: receiving call-up papers, klaaring in, Basics, keuring, bush phase, second-phase training, general service, the Border, Angola, the townships, klaaring out and camps. Taking in the humour and the hardship, these accounts provide a variety of perspectives on inspections, drill, guard duty, Border patrols, contact, and everyday life in the SADF. Also included are official documents such as call-up papers, extracts from a Basic Training manual, and a clearing-out certificate. Appendices give additional information on the history of National Service, the context of the Border War and other matters.

Content: Troepie: From Call-up to Camps

PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Before
Klaaring In
Basic Training
Orientation
Keuring
Weeks 2-9
Bush Phase
The Last Week
Second-Phase Training
General Service
The Border
Into Angola
The Townships
Uitklaar
Camps
General Service
The Border
Into Angola
The Townships
So, in the End
APPENDICES
The Development of National Service
Deferment
The Angolan/South African Border War
Township Patrols and the State of Emergency
National Service Medals
Basic Training Manual
TRANSLATION OF AFRIKAANS DIALOGUE
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY