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As a lover of history, I see it as vital to keep our history, both good and bad alive and in the collective memory. Erasing the things that we consider as wrong or even evil is a mistake. Even now, you can see that the failure to teach things such as the failures Marxism through history is wrong. The things we disagree with the most should be studied in a way that is equally balance with things we believe in a collective society, or used to. Without information on the past and it’s results/ramifications is a route to disaster.

Famed South African, Mr. Eeban Barlow of the famed and now relaunched Private Military Company , Executive Outcomes eloquently discussed this on his Facebook page. With his permission, I will repost it here. From Ancient wisdom to today, people have not changed, only the technology. We are a species who easily forget yesterday.

PRESERVING HISTORY IN A TIME OF MADNESS As a country that has become focused on destroying and negating its history, there are still some who work hard at trying to preserve it. As Cicero (106BC to 43BC) taught us “History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity.” The good and the bad should never simply be swept under the carpet and changed to suit agendas as it shapes our future—and those who remain stuck in the past are destined to miss their future. Two men (Robert Forsythe and Mark Klein—their contact numbers are at the end of the posting), along with their team deserve a massive hat tip as they strive to make sure that our military history along with that of the Anglo Boer War is never forgotten nor simply ignored.

They are also great hosts and story tellers. A new developing facility known as Regiments is in the process of being created. Situated to the west of Pretoria in the Broederstroom area, Regiments will give a home to South African military and police forces that have been forgotten or neglected. Situated on an area where many Brit-Boer battles took place, it will give a home to these units that upheld constitutions and past members will be able to visit this facility to view their histories, see memorabilia, and attend functions that have now long passed. Talks and lectures will be presented by noted historians on these units and themed menus will be offered.

For more information, please contact Mark Klein directly. Kedar Heritage Lodge (https://kedar.co.za/) is a place where South African history and nature collide. It is built on a portion of Boekenhoutfontein, the historic farm that once belonged to President Paul Kruger and offers much more than just a venue for functions, weddings and conferences, or a day or weekend break-away. The land around Kedar is game fenced and populated with a wide variety of game, including eland, blesbok, impala, bushbuck, nyala, kudu, zebra, blue wildebeest, giraffe, and sable – making it a dream destination for nature lovers. It offers 66 African-themed stone and thatched rooms and suites, all of which are decorated with vibrant, hand-painted ethnic print fabrics and African artworks – reflecting many of Africa’s treasures. But the jewel in Kedar’s crown is not the renowned Paul Kruger Country House Museum, Kedar Spa in the Country, themed restaurants, a large swimming pool and private game drives where even black impala can be seen, but the incredible Boer War Museum.

It is a museum unlike any other and it was here that I learned a lot I never knew: There were many black people who fought with the ‘Boere’; there was a black Boer general; the Boere were saved by black people when they were attempting to withdraw from a larger British force; the British and Boere Freemasons would meet, discuss their masonry issues, and them shoot at one another the following day; the first South African athletes to partake in the Olympic Games were black men who fought alongside the Boere; the impact of the Russian involvement—along with others—on the side of the Boere, and more. Packed with uniforms, weapons, flags and histories of those partaking forces, the museum includes incredible metal sculptures made by Robert and Mark’s team. For anyone who wants to learn about the ‘forgotten history’ of the Boer War, Kedar is definitely the place to visit. It will be time well spent, and an experience never to be forgotten. After all, as Cicero taught us, it will bring us tidings of antiquity. For more information, please contact Robert Forsythe (+27 83 251 4448) or Mark Klein (+27 82 7770810). You won’t regret it.

This is a great but not widely viewed video of Selous Scouts selection training and operations

God and the RLI ….

A tremendous post about a chaplain in the RLI posted by Mark Adams. It originally was posted in Cheetah in 1980. I will be blogging and writing some articles on the RLI in the upcoming weeks and months

“Come on Padre, how come you are talking to us about God when we have to go out and kill’?”

By Major (The Rev) Bill Blakeway

“Padre, do you want to go on Fire Force.” That question put to me by Lt Col Pat Armstrong, then O.C. of Support Commando, started my understanding and appreciation of what the RLI was all about.

I nearly had a heart attack when I looked at the stick board that evening and saw there in first wave, stop one – Padre! It was quite a serious stick – Cpl ‘Dutch’ de Klerk, ‘Ticky’ Millet, ‘Buzzard’ Dalgerous and yours truly. Fortunately, the only contact we made that day was with ‘Buff Beans’. But I shall never forget the almost paralysing fear as the chopper circled the target area. For me the moment of truth. I have recalled that “heavy war story” because that experience helped me to know something of what the members of the Battalion had to go through every time the siren went off. I don’t think it is possible for a Padre to begin to communicate with the Troopie unless he has been frightened with him.

My association with the Battalion started during 1974, whilst I was still a T.A. Right from the beginning, to me, there was something “special” about the Unit. It also became clear to me that there was a tremendous pride in the Unit by its members and like all regular army units, it was a “closed shop” to anyone on the outside. 1 soon realised that 1 would have to become a regular if I was to stand any hope of being accepted. It was during the first half of 1976 that the Chaplain General said “You are now officially Chaplain to the RLI get on and know them.”

It would take far more than this article and would be impossible to recall and record everything I would like to of these last six years. The Padre’s Hour for instance. You know that exciting period during the week when most of the ouens catch up on their gonk! I recall a few anxious moments when difficult questions have come up, like . . “Come on Padre, how come you are talking to us about God when we have to go out and kill’?” If anyone thinks there is an easy answer to that one – good luck. All I could do was to help the troopie to see that the country had the right to both rule and defend itself, and that the Christian had a moral obligation to be involved in both. I would also like to say that during the whole of my association with the Battalion, I have not come across one man who claimed categorically that he is an atheist. They might not have been Church-goers, but they accepted the fact that there was “someone up there” looking after them.

My trips to the bush to visit the different Commandos – few Chaplains had the privileges that I had in this respect. To be accepted as part of the Unit. I remember incidents like Forbes Border Post with 2 Commando, hot extraction demonstration with 3 Commando – with me hanging from that bar and the chopper circling a couple of hundred feet up – when I could have been back home sitting having tea with the old ladies of the Church! Being one of six sticks, total 24, and being told by the O.C. that 75 to 100 enemy had been sighted – I didn’t stop shaking for an hour.

The occasional patrol clinging hopefully to the promises of the Log Enslins and Charlie Warrens of: “Dont worry, Padre, we will look after you.” Another moment that aged me twenty years was when the present CO Lt-Col Aust was 2IC. We were discussing the various para courses and he said: “Do you want to be para-trained?” As I was still stumbling over my answer he picked up the phone, spoke to the para school and asked them if the Padre could get on a course. I sat completely speechless as I heard him say: “Right, thanks, — three weeks’ time.” Once again, however, what a privilege to be accepted as one who has jumped with the Battalion – even if they were only fun jumps.

There have been the sad times …. having to go and visit N.O.K. of members of the Battalion and giving them the one message they were dreading. The happy times at the get-togethers and marriages. The proud moments. There is no doubt that to me, personally, the supreme moment of pride was on the 1st February, 1979 when the Statue of the Troopie was unveiled. To have been part of that magnificent ceremony will always be the most treasured memory that I will have.

And who of those who were there will ever be able to forget the Memorial Service on 12th September, 1979, and the funeral service for Major Bruce Snelgar, held at the foot of the statue. Or that final Wreath-Laying. Possibly there will be those who will read this and say “the Padre’s being carried away again.” All I know is that those who have served in the Battalion will know exactly what I am saying. They will understand the fierce feeling of pride that the men in the Unit, and its achievement, coupled with the memory of those of their number who did not return from the op area.
As the Padre remembers, he would also like to say “Thank You”. Thank you to the men of the green and silver, for your professionalism as soldiers, for your courage, for your loyalty to the cause for which you fought. And I thank you for your personal friendship.

Remember this, we’re going to be in that number when the SAINTS GO MARCHING IN!

From the October 1980 Cheetah magazine.

We must be careful when studying conflict. There are so many things that influence the totality of war. I found this excerpt from a book that is on my ‘to read list’

Three general rules of study must therefore be borne in mind by the
officer who studies military history as a guide to his profession and who
wishes to avoid pitfalls. First, he must study in width. He must observe the
way in which warfare has developed over a long historical period. Only
by seeing what does change can one deduce what does not; and as much
as can be learnt from the great discontinuities of military history as from
the apparent similarities of the techniques employed by the great captains
v
through the ages….Next he must study in depth. He should take a single
campaign and explore it thoroughly, not simply from official histories,
but from memoirs, letters, diaries. . . until the tidy outlines dissolve and
he catches a glimpse of the confusion and horror of real experience…
and, lastly, he must study in context. Campaigns and battles are not like
games of chess or football matches, conducted in total detachment from
their environment according to strictly defined rules. Wars are not tactical
exercises writ large. They are…conflicts of societies, and they can be
fully understood only if one understands the nature of the society fighting
them. The roots of victory and defeat often have to be sought far from the
battlefield, in political, social, and economic factors which explain why
armies are constituted as they are, and why their leaders conduct them in
the way they do…. It must not be forgotten that the true use of history,
military or civil… is not to make men clever for the next time; it is to make
them wise forever.

My awareness of the Rhodesian Bush War goes back to my impressionable years of puberty. On trips to Walmart, I would immediately go to the magazine section where they sold Soldier of Fortune magazine. ( oh how times have changed and dates me ). Some months there would be articles on the wars being fought in Southern Africa, usually concentrating on American ‘mercenaries’ who made the trip and joined the Armies of Rhodesia and South Africa.

One major contributor was a Captain Bob Mackenzie of the Rhodesian SAS. I didn’t know what that was but the stories were extremely scary and interesting to a 12 year old. I also remember the old recruiting poster of Be a Mann among Men with a Troopie and his trusted FN FAL and distinctive head gear. Though I can’t say that I remember the content of the articles, I knew how they made me feel as described above. Rambo was in the movie theaters and I imagined this guy was similar to him. The truth was not far off.

I eventually joined the US Navy at 17 and tried out for UDT/BUDS but failed the physical. The dreams faltered but I served my time on board the storied USS Enterprise which still retained the graffiti from the Vietnam Air War and learned the lessons that all young men should learn during their stint and after 25 years+, if I heard Attention On Deck, I would pop up out of my chair wondering what Officer graced us with his presence and often, what I had done to deserve a visit. 🙂

Fast forward a BA degree in Ancient History and some attempts to write a historical novel centered around the Jewish Revolt of 66 AD and the Romans consequently crushing it and destroying the Second Temple and the city of Jerusalem. It had started with my Senior Thesis on the subject. During this time, Band of Brothers was raging and I loved it and spent a few years studying WW2 and my Grandfathers war and discovered facts about his job as a Reconnaissance ‘Shore Party’ during the Solomon Islands Campaign. I then became interested in studying the Vietnam War. I grew up with a father and uncle who served in the Marine Corps during that time. My uncle became a member of 3rd Marine Recon Battalion Company A.

My mind drifted back to the Soldier of Fortune magazine and at the time, it was still published in paper form and was on news racks. I came across a story about an American and his experience in Rhodesia, a country I had not heard of in years. My curious mind began to research this topic. The internet was in it’s infancy and little to nothing came of my hard work. Over the years, more internet material became available and as memoirs and histories became available I gorged as much as was available. I found a book seller in South Africa who had a library on the subject. I spent alot of time and money to learn about the war.

I had taken up writing and was 100k words into a WW2 novel when an opportunity to write about the Rhodesian war randomly came up through a contact with the editor of a new website. SOFREP.com…It was a website written by ‘Operators’ for Operators and curious onlookers. I told the editor that I wanted to submit an article to him on FIRE FORCE tactics and techniques used in Rhodesia. He broke his rule, in that I was not a veteran of any special operations force. He loved the article, admitting that he didn’t expect it to make the cut and I ended up writing close to 20 articles for them as well as publishing a book with MacMillan called Africa Lost-Rhodesia’s COIN Killing Machine.

Published in 2013, it still sells and has close to 150 reviews at 4.5 stars. I ventured into writing novels. My first, Task Force Intrepid: The Gold of Katanga earned some nice reviews and initially sold well. It follows an American run PMC who is contracted to take back a newly discovered vein of Gold in the Copper belt of Katanga. The villains are taken from the headlines, history and conjecture. I quickly followed with a novella called Highway to Hell. It was hurried but it provided some back story to my main Protagonist- Willem Kruger. His background may seem impossible to people but he is based on a composite of many many men, alot of which are still in the warfighting business all over the world.

Willem Kruger, of South African Boer heritage although his father went north for opportunity to farm, began his military career in 1979 by joining the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry after his farm had been destroyed and his mother, father and siblings had been killed by ‘freedom fighters’. He missed the execution through sheer providence as he visited his uncle and cousin who were professional hunters in South Africa. He excelled as a soldier in some of the most vicious battles and camp attacks towards the coming end of the nation.

His adventures take him on to South Africa’s Para’s for a short time and 5 Recce Commando which specialized in psuedo operations in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. After the end of Apartheid and the closing down of many Special Force elements, opportunities came about to work as a private contractor. Forthcoming books will examine his experiences as well as a planned series on an American who came to Rhodesia and fought in a war he believed, rightly so, against communist expansion.

He now leads a multinational team of specialists in Africa on missions of importance to Governments and Industry.

Back to the title of this article, if you have no knowledge of the war or very little, you can pick up my guidebook for a primer on Amazon- Africa Lost-Rhodesia’s COIN Killing Machine.

For more in depth stories a man of immense talent has put out three books and a series of YouTube interviews which are spell binding and which I consider a Magnum Opus over anything put out currently. His name is Hannes Wessels.

The titles of his books are ‘A Handful of Hard men’, ‘We Dared to Win’ with Andre Scheepers and ‘The Fighting Men of Rhodesia’. For video interviews that helped inform his books, simply type in You Tube’s search bar, The Fighting Men of Rhodesia and sit back and be prepared to gain an understanding not just of the history and tactics of a counter insurgency war but an insight into men who often spent a decade or more DEPLOYED six weeks in the bush and 10 days home, year after year.

His material is simply the finest material out on Rhodesia’s war.

As for me, after several years of parenting and consuming work, I am about halfway through my sequel to The Gold of Katanga. It’s title is Task Force Intrepid: Kivu Crisis. It is much broader in plot and action. I have learned alot over the years and decided it’s now or never. With the books and articles mentioned here, you have at least a couple of months worth of reading.

Look for more updates as things progress. As I stated, I attempt to take the readers on journeys into the past and present and potential future. I hope you will join me.