South Africa's COIN war in SWA/Namibia/Angola

[Jim Hooper]

In the first post I mentioned the 1988 book Koevoet by Jim Hooper (a US photographer / journalist based in the UK, who had embedded with SW African COIN unit, in the conflict over nowadays Namibia).

Today I found his website: http://jimhooper.co.uk/ which has a mass of photos: http://jimhooper.co.uk/gallery3.html, three short video clips and other subjects covered.

In a moment of whimsy, I Googled the title of my first book and was surprised to see it mentioned here. My thanks go to DavidBFPO.I hope those who have read Koevoet or its American edition Beneath the Visiting Moon found the story of passing interest.

Another first-hand account of the unit will be published in July 2011 by Zebra Press, an imprint of Random House-Struik. Written by Arn 'Jim' Durand, one of my first mentors when I was embedded with Koevoet, Zulu, Zulu Golf covers his seven years of COIN operations on both sides of the Namibia-Angola border. My six months covering the bush war, during which I managed to get winged twice, pale by comparison with Durand's 120+ contacts.

In the meantime, if anyone has questions about the most effective COIN unit ever to have operated in Africa I'm happy to answer them as best I can.

Jim Hooper
www.jimhooper.co.uk

"There's no such thing as a small battle or tiny war at cockpit, squad or platoon level."
Colonel Jack L. Mullen
Road Runner 6