Troepie: From Call-up to Camps

Author: Cameron Blake
Publisher: Zebra Press
Cape Town, 2009
ISBN 9781770220515
Softcover, 15x23 cm, 328 pages

Über vierzig Zeitzeugen berichten über ihre Erlebnisse als Wehrpflichtige (Troepie) bei der South African Defence Force, über die Ausbildung und die Einsätze im damals herrschenden Grenzkrieg im Norden Namibias.

Description:

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. This book 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.