Africa's Commandos - new book on the RLI

[slapout9]

JMA, can you describe quick kill training in more detail. Specifically the part about bringing the rifle to the center of the body? Not sure I understand what he means by that.

[JMA]

..."Reid, you gungy little ..., it looks like you need you need some help keeping yourself clean. Take him to the showers boys and don't bring him back until he is sparkling like a lemon."

[JMA]

... they did the business:

[Ken White]

LINK. Scroll down to Quick Kill.

LINK.

LINK.

We used Quick Kill in the late 60s. Most units / NCOs preferred to teach shoulder the weapon loosely but some guys contended that if it was shouldered, the instinct to use the sights, a no-no, was too strong and taught the Troops to keep the weapon roughly centered on their body with the but about 2-6 inches out from the chest. That worked with the BB gun, did less well with the cartridge weapons. the Division Quick Kill range at Bragg was up in Area Mike, behind the NC-Zero Club (which is now Division Headquarters, a gentle irony... )

[JMA]

Extract from the book and from the article by Chris Donald one of the more skilled Fire Force commanders of the war.

Obviously, intelligence was the driver of the war and it is here where the SB (Police Special Branch), Selous Scouts, SAS, Aerial Photography, Aerial Reconnaissance and more played a critical role. From this intelligence operations and troop deployments took place. During my time with 3 Cdo I would spend quality time with the intelligence people where we were operating.

Having standard intelligence briefs was a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP), but getting close to them, building a relationship and asking question after question was for me the only way of obtaining what intelligence we required for Fire Force (FF).

As mentioned, the asking of questions was the only way to get the info one needed. For example, all SOP-type intelligence briefs I ever attended never gave the detail that we required on matters such as terrain, bush cover, hill features and caves in the area. This may sound to the reader as unnecessary but for FF operations we felt it was an operational necessity. This same tactic of getting more than the normal standard information and asking questions I used right up to and before arrival at a target area.

There was a standard list of what would be transmitted to FF call-outs by an OP, but we realised that to be more effective and successful we needed more than the norm, plus I wanted as many people as possible who were going to be involved in the operation, to hear every detail. In simple terms, from the first report on a potential call-out up to our arrival at the target, I wanted everyone to have a detailed painted picture in their minds of the target area and everything else related to the incident.

Over and above the obvious we would get answers to questions such as: how many huts in a kraal/s, description and layout of the huts, any striking features/colours on huts, where was the cattlepen, relevant paths in the area, colour of clothing of the locals they had seen, enemy clothing description, hats/caps, cattle being herded and where, which of the locals by dress colour had been seen moving in and out of the base camp area, which direction or down which river line did the OP think the enemy would go, vegetation description on the river lines and other details. One also had to realise that in the case of an OP one had to picture the area through the eyes of the OP.

I also found that, depending on the surprise factor we could achieve with the noise of the helicopters, there was real benefit for the K-Car on approach to fly directly over the OP towards the target area and by a simple go-left, roll-out, go-right, roll-out, I was able to see exactly what the OP was seeing. The OP advising me when they could hear the sound of the aircraft was a must on every call-out (for obvious reasons) and then, once we had decided where to deploy the stops, the OP became important eyes, ears and information for us.

[JMA]

... there was time for stuff like this:

[slapout9]

Originally Posted by Ken White

LINK. Scroll down to Quick Kill.

LINK.

LINK.

We used Quick Kill in the late 60s. Most units / NCOs preferred to teach shoulder the weapon loosely but some guys contended that if it was shouldered, the instinct to use the sights, a no-no, was too strong and taught the Troops to keep the weapon roughly centered on their body with the but about 2-6 inches out from the chest. That worked with the BB gun, did less well with the cartridge weapons. the Division Quick Kill range at Bragg was up in Area Mike, behind the NC-Zero Club (which is now Division Headquarters, a gentle irony... )

Yep, I remember we have had this conversation before. I went through it in 72 at Ft. Jackson and have been researching Point Shooting ever since.

Now put your memeory hat on?..... Night firing without using your sites! I think we were taught (prone or standing foxhole position only) to place the weapon in the center of our chest and our chin on top of the stock of the weapon when sighted fire could not be used at night.

The Marines taught a crouch firing postion to Raiders (WW2) where the M1 was placed in the center of the body and the arms were fully extened as you pointed at the target. Might be able to find a picture when I have time.

Anyway to this day it is amazing at the number of so called firearms instructors and experts who don't believe it is possible to hit anything with this technique. PS people that believe this are usually people who have never been in or seen a gun fight.

[Ken White]

Originally Posted by slapout9

Now put your memeory hat on?..... Night firing without using your sites! I think we were taught (prone or standing foxhole position only) to place the weapon in the center of our chest and our chin on top of the stock of the weapon when sighted fire could not be used at night.

That was one technique. Some others included; a white string or strip of bandage tied between front and rear sight -- you just pointed the tape at the target (you heard, all the flashes screwed up night vision...), putting a small strip of luminous tape on both sights (Meprolight Beta Version ), using aiming stakes and / or forked stick to get rough alignment (for likely avenues of approach or FPF). There were others but those were the most common and most likely to work.

The Marines taught a crouch firing postion to Raiders (WW2) where the M1 was placed in the center of the body and the arms were fully extened as you pointed at the target. Might be able to find a picture when I have time.

They were still teaching that to the average Grunt in Korea.

Anyway to this day it is amazing at the number of so called firearms instructors and experts who don't believe it is possible to hit anything with this technique. PS people that believe this are usually people who have never been in or seen a gun fight.

True dat...

I can do far better with the pistol pointing than I can with aiming using one or both hands...

[JMA]

... John R Cronin has published a book on Kindle about his service in the USMC and Rhodesia. I served with John in the RLI and enjoyed his coverage of his service in the RLI and the Selous Scouts immensely. At $4.06 it is certainly a must read for those with an interest in the Rhodesian bush war.



The Bleed [Kindle Edition] - John R. Cronin (Author)

"These memoirs are a 40-year window into the life of someone who walked silently on patrol with Marine Recon in the jungles of Vietnam, infiltrated guerrilla groups on counterinsurgency operations with the Selous Scouts in Rhodesia, navigated the teeming streets of Cairo and was kidnapped by Hizbollah in Beirut, and then left this life behind for the highly competitive atmosphere of a graduate program in London, where survival came in a much different form."

Extract:

... Enter moi in the middle of August of 1976. I reported in to the RLI the same day 3 Commando, my assigned unit, had returned from its 10 day R&R in preparation to be deployed the following day. I walked over from the BOQ across the parade deck to meet the rest of the officers and senior NCOs as they arrived to pre-pack up some equipment and I could see them studying me as I made my way to the offices.

It was the same look I had received the day I walking into Third Force Recon that day and I could feel the eyes on my back as I went down the corridor. Everyone had heard that a new officer was due in, and a Yank officer at that, and they were keen to see what kind of impression the new face would leave with them. They all had a ton of combat experience behind them, and as I grew to know them and the men of the other commands, I would be struck by how closely they resembled in temperament and bearing the Marines I had just left. Funny. profane. tough, violent, tactically and strategically savvy, innovative and not afraid to take some of the most awful risks you can imagine, they were solid in the bush and could be relied on to take care of one another out there without one doubt of hesitation, which is what made them so aggressive and ideally suited for Fire Force.

...

[JMA]

... and to the RLI troopie.

RLI 51st Birthday – Cape Town 2012

Proposing the Toast to the Regiment – Mark Adams

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen… I am honoured to have been asked to stand in for Bill Wiggill tonight.

During the course of collecting the various contributions for the new RLI book – Africa’s Commandos - from those who have served in or with the RLI during the 19 years of the regiment’s existence my knowledge and understanding of the RLI has grown significantly.

It has been less about the phases through which the RLI passed over those 19 years as significant as they were …

…what with early years and service on the Belgian Congo Border
… to the significant manpower losses at the break up of Federation
… to the fun and games of the border control years
… to the earlier short sharp operations in the Zambezi Valley
… on to the low intensity continuous operations which begun with Op Hurricane in 1973
… and finally to the continuous high intensity operations through to the end.

For me it has become more about the human aspects of how the RLI ouens thought and behaved.

There has always been a broad mischievous and naughty streak running through the RLI from officers down to the troopies. The battalion has always been full of colourful characters. We all remember those characters of our respective vintages with great fondness and affection. They were good for morale.

There was always the ability to see the funny side of just about every situation the service and the war threw at us. I remember so well being repeatedly told by my training troop instructors that “If you haven’t got a sense of humour you shouldn’t have joined the army”. This humour, even if it was most often of the graveyard or gallows variety, served the battalion well especially when in the end we were committed to continuous operations with mounting casualties.

There were the lists of honours and awards, which in my personal view, were certainly under awarded in circumstances where continuous and daily displays of bravery and courage became the order of the day… these from young men so many of whom were under the age of 20 …with the rest being not much older.

There was the ability of the RLI to adapt to virtually any circumstances …as our second to last CO Tufty Bate stated from his personal experience in late 1979; “I realised that there was only one unit in the world who could be para-borne (one day) infantry (the next) an armoured column (a week later) and then marines all within the space of a few weeks.”

(The marine aspect amounted to a Dunkirk-style array of vessels hastily cobbled together to ferry the RLI across Kariba for a possible attack on a ZIPRA camp.)

My own personal observation is of how the RLI at war turned boys into men.

Remember intake 150 comprising about 225 recruits in mid 1976 and how 50 odd were fed into each commando almost doubling our combat strength overnight. We had to create new stick commanders to whom we gave only one each of the ‘fresh p...’ … err … can’t use that word here… so each new stick commander received one of the ‘fresh’ new troopies … resulting in Derrick Taylor my troop sergeant getting two new troopies and me - trying to set the example as the troop commander - getting three new troopies.

Next day as Stop 1 I deployed into a lively Fire Force scene with a Scotsman with unverified military service on the MAG and two 18 year old National Service Rhodesians with recruit course style ‘short back and sides’ haircuts which made their ears stick out.

It is certainly a testament to the quality of training Major Pete Cooper and his team in Training Troop delivered that despite my initial concerns about having three new troopies in my stick they acquitted themselves magnificently during a ‘liquorice all-sorts’ kind of day where we experienced directly to our front:

…20mm cannon being fired from the K-Car,
…Sneb rockets and Frantan from the Lynx,
…lots of small arms fire going in both directions… some at very close range,
…some grenade action to deal with a gook trying to get behind us
…and a swarm of angry African bees.

Such a first day in combat is not for the faint hearted … but these ‘boys’ took it all in their stride.

In fact despite my misguided anxiety over my stick they actually saved me that day when a well concealed gook zeroed in on me. In some armies the soldiers would wait for the officer to get shot before taking the enemy out … but not on that day … but then again … maybe it was because they were all brand new and hadn’t got to know me yet.

It did not take long before these self same troopies became the confident, strutting, street wise troopies of the RLI the Salisbury civvies had learned to fear. As we remember … when the RLI was in town the call went out … ‘keep your eyes on your wallet and your watch… and above all lock up your daughters’.

On another occasion out of Mtoko we spent a day and the night scrambling around a cave infested rocky outcrop. Leaving the MAG and one troopie to cover a cave entrance I moved off with a troopie to deal with some gooks who appeared to have a death wish. I kept looking behind me to see if the 18 year old with cheeks that had never seen a razor blade was still there. I shouldn’t have worried… of course he was still there. All bright eyed and bushy tailed… alert, wide awake and switched on… he was covering my back… he was after all an RLI troopie … even if he was just a kid.

I often think back to that level of mutual trust and faith we placed in one another during the war when we uttered the simple … yet powerful … words ‘cover me’. Something mere civvies would never be able to understand or comprehend.

There is not a day that passes when I am not proud … to an emotional level… of having served with those lovable ‘skates’ we called troopies… in the battalion we all love so dearly… the Rhodesian Light Infantry.

I end with a quote from our last CO, Charlie Aust who at the final parade on 17 October 1980 said: “Our colours will continue to fly higher than high. We know that in years to come we will say to our children and to our loved ones with the greatest pride: “I served in the RLI”.

…with that I ask you to be rise to toast the battalion … that Ian Douglas Smith named ‘The Incredible RLI’ … Ladies and Gentlemen … the RLI.

[JMA]

Originally Posted by slapout9

JMA, can you describe quick kill training in more detail. Specifically the part about bringing the rifle to the center of the body? Not sure I understand what he means by that.

Got this response from the author and hope the book text can still be amended in time. Thanks for the question.

Whilst formal range classification shoots with all arms was a prerequisite for all recruits before the recruit could be passed out of Training Troop this did not necessarily define good shooting is bush engagements. In addition, there was often little time for a soldier to take a correct sight picture in close quarter bush engagements and had to fire instinctively.

A method of shooting that was practiced in the dense bush at Le Rhone and at close quarters termed as the “Quick Kill” method. This type of shooting had been well demonstrated and practiced on my Platoon Weapons Instructor’s course. The concept of Quick Kill was not a Rhodesian innovation but the application and practice of the techniques of the developer of the method, Bobby ‘Lucky’ Mc Daniel in 1954 and published by Mike Jennings in 1959 (USA). Quick Kill or ‘Point Shooting’ as the discipline was sometimes called, was taught as a combat skill to United States ground soldiers during the Vietnam conflict. It appears that a training manual of sorts with this title was used at Fort Benning, Army Infantry School c1966 but a formal instruction manual was published in May 1967 for the American army.

The basic principles for this technique are:

* The soldier must first determine his “Master” Eye as a prerequisite to the teaching. Determining which eye is the master or dominant eye is important for success in the use of Quick Kill. If he shoots right handed, and his left eye is dominant, then target strikes will tend to be to the left or he will miss left completely if shooting without use of sights. To determine which eye is the dominant eye, the instructor stands in front of the soldier at a distance of about two to three meters away, and places his forefinger against his nose. The soldier is told to focus on that point with both eyes, and at the same time extend his dominant arm and form a circle with his thumb and index finger forming a circle, and look through the circle and focus on the point of the nose of the instructor. The soldier's eye which appears directly behind and in line with the circle is the master eye of that individual soldier.

* The soldier should stand with feet apart with “weak” leg leading and pointing at the target. His weight should be balanced on the balls of his feet and he should be leading forward slightly.

* His rifle is supported with the "weak" hand extended towards the front of the stock (Pointing arm) and with the butt of the weapon slightly under his arm, into the pocket of his shoulder and his cheek against the butt. His head must be erect and both eyes are open and looking well over the weapon (60 – 100mm) and not down the length of the weapons barrel. The shotist must be trained to focus directly at a point on the target and not look for the sights on the rifle.

I recall some hilarity as we first began to teach the recruits and some really far misses even by marksmen on the general classification shoots. By the end of the initial training they were able to consistently hit the kill zone on Fig.11 and 12 man/head sized targets at close quarters. Today’s combat pistol competitors employ a very similar ‘eyes open’ technique very successfully.

The development of the ‘Single Point’ laser type sight system is based on the principles of Quick Kill and modern game bird and clay pigeon shotists employ the technique as a matter of course.

[JMA]

... A young choppertech/gunner Beaver Shaw - author of the book Choppertech - back in the day. Man we were young.

[slapout9]

Originally Posted by JMA

Got this response from the author and hope the book text can still be amended in time. Thanks for the question.

JMA,Ken, I new I had a picture. Here is a link to a PDF with a picture of an article about snap shooting from WW2 by a Marine Captain. In the picture you can see the crouch and extended arms,depending on how and who explains the concept to you, it could be described as putting the weapon in your chest while extending your arms. Anyway the picture shows the part I was getting confused over. As I said this has been a (point shooting,combat shooting,etc) pet rock of mine for nearly 40 years and I have spent a lot of time,money, and interviews of people and materials to try and get it correct for teaching purposes. I will shut up now and let the book review continue

http://www.pointshooting.com/snap.pdf

[JMA]

Originally Posted by slapout9

JMA,Ken, I new I had a picture. Here is a link to a PDF with a picture of an article about snap shooting from WW2 by a Marine Captain. In the picture you can see the crouch and extended arms,depending on how and who explains the concept to you, it could be described as putting the weapon in your chest while extending your arms. Anyway the picture shows the part I was getting confused over. As I said this has been a (point shooting,combat shooting,etc) pet rock of mine for nearly 40 years and I have spent a lot of time,money, and interviews of people and materials to try and get it correct for teaching purposes. I will shut up now and let the book review continue

http://www.pointshooting.com/snap.pdf

I compliment you on your persistence.

To digress a little, what was interesting in Rhodesia - as opposed to South Africa on my return after 1980 - was how the training was driven front to rear as opposed to being a rigid enforced top-down policy.

This of course makes sense to everyone ... except those sitting in the highest HQ. While I never saw anyone from Army HQ-Training anywhere in the Op Areas they continued to put out TRADOC - Training Bulletins ... but must grant them some slack as they did constantly seek lessons learned from those in the field and did adopt them as official policy ... like my claymore layout for instance.

As far as shooting was concerned there were the basics which were taught during recruit training - in the case of the RLI all the recruit training was done within the battalion itself. The Bn CO was then in a position to ensure lessons from ops - with which he was involved daily - were immediately acted upon by Training Troop.

As the sub units (company size) were constantly on ops they evolved their own training with regard to quick kill shooting - and other stuff - as per their own experiences. As can be appreciated each sub-unit had its own CSM (company sergeant major) and platoon sergeants who led with this training. With the training instructors for recruit training being drawn from the operational sub-units on what we called temporary attachment there was a constant rotation of ops current NCOs through Training Troop.

It was here that the main debate over shooting techniques - and experience led tactical innovations - took place. Sergeants on rotation would express what their sub-unit was doing and there would follow a healthy - sometimes loud - discussion on the matter. In the end the training moved forward. The system was dynamic.

[JMA]

... repositioning closer to something brewing and waiting for the call.

[JMA]

From the article "Keeping training relevant in an ongoing war" the last Training Officer, Maj Peter Cooper shared the following:

During 1979 training was extended from four and a half to five months and would later be increased by a further three weeks to include the basic parachute course.

The basic subjects such as drill, weapons, voice procedure etc had remained much the same but tactics now differed greatly. Conventional war was covered only briefly, with 29 periods and two days devoted to an exercise, but insurgency rural warfare and COIN now occupied 65 periods and a further nine days on battle camps.

New subjects, including survival techniques, demolitions, mine awareness, advanced first aid, helicopter drills, CAS, and African customs, none of which were included ten years earlier, were now essential parts of the syllabus.

Specific comment is necessary IMHO because the tendency in wartime is to reduce the training time for recruits to be able to get them off to war as soon as possible. Recruits could in a action days after passing-out if they joined their sub-unit in the field.

[JMA]

... we're rolling:

[JMA]

...Mike McDonald from Canada served with distinction in the RLI.

Extract from one of his articles in the book:

Snakes and goggas (creepy crawlies)

In the first week I joined RLI we went out to Mazoe for training. On the first day I was napping in my bivvy after lunch. I was awoken to find a huge baboon spider inches from my face. The next thing I remember I was outside the bivvy beating this ‘deadly poisonous tarantula’ to death with my water bottle. A couple of guilty-looking RLI ouens (slang for ‘the men’) were sniggering nearby. Welcome to Africa! On my first bush trip with 3Cdo we stopped by this small base near Buffalo Range. There were some African soldiers toasting mopane worms on a grill over coals. My RLI corporal showed me this procedure then asked me to eat one. Smartass, me says, I’ll eat one if you do. This darn corporal popped one into his mouth and ate it. Damn, so I had to eat one too.

Support Commando had a trooper nicknamed ‘Snake’. In the bush he was always turning over rocks looking for snakes on his patrol breaks and often finding them. At Grand Reef Fire Force base there was this big mamba. ‘Snake’ chased the mamba from the berm to the airstrip trying to catch it. The mamba got cranky and chased ‘Snake’ back to the berm. This happened back and forth several times much to the amusement of many Support Commando onlookers. I don’t think he was able to catch the mamba. Legend has it that ‘Snake’, whilst early into a several-day deployment into Mozambique, caught a world record-size cobra but had to let it go due to military operations. Watching television recently a herpetologist from South Africa was being interviewed; he looked hauntingly familiar. This snake expert even said he had handled snakes in the army in Angola clearing them from bunkers etc. “If that’s really you ‘Snake’, congratulations on having a career in your beloved hobby”.

At Grand Reef I was nearby when a cobra went into the 3Cdo’s batmen’s tent when they were all inside having an afternoon siesta. All the screaming batmen exited the tent immediately, only one via the doorway! Aye, if only we had it on video. An Afrikaner 3Cdo trooper killed the snake and skinned it. Only one batman slept in the tent that night because of a cobra’s reputation of hanging around in pairs. On an extremely quiet day a very bored 3Cdo soldier caught a chameleon and spent several minutes chasing the batmen around with it. Good thing batmen weren’t armed or they would have shot me.

One time Support Commando was camped by the sports club of Ngundu Halt north of Beit Bridge. At dusk the Recce Troop sergeant had a hell of a dramatic time killing a big cobra in his tent with a shovel. He was in quite a rattled state afterwards. I was sharing a tarp bivvy with the company clerk there. He had the 2000-2200hrs radio watch in the signals truck while I did the 2200-2400hrs stint. At the end of my radio watch upon returning to our bivvy I found him sleeping about 30 yards away in the open. I thought whatever, crawled around our very dark bivvy, crashed in my sleeping bag on the stretcher. I asked him the following morning why he slept out there and he said, “Huge snake crawled into our bivvy!”

In Essexvale during troop medic course training I caught one of those huge locusts with a body the size of my index finger and big powerful back legs. I strolled over to the late Englishman, Tpr John Connelly, pulled open his T-shirt and dropped it in. He mumbled, “Now what have you done McDonald?” and pulled open his shirt neck to see this brute as it started kicking against his chest. He screamed his head off, jumped around, dropped his rifle, ripped off his webbing, ripped off his chest webbing and finally pulled off his T-shirt, still screaming and jumping hysterically. Aye, if only we had it on video. Why do Rhodesian and South African men find it extremely hilarious to see an Englishman freaking out over a gogga inside his shirt? Later that evening by my possie (sleeping place) I placed my ratpack on my lap for dinner, opened the box and found this big black scorpion running around inside. My ratpack sailed thirty feet into the air and curses flew towards John who was laughing his head off in the next possie. What RLI dudes do when bored. Speaking of scorpions I’m sure I sat on one once at night. I had been sitting for 30 seconds when this fierce pain stung my right butt cheek and I jumped about three feet in the air. The next day I had a red welt about eight inches in diameter on my right butt. It healed itself.

In Llewellin Barracks I found a newly hatched six-inch long baby cobra. It still had its egg tooth. Sadly, a poisonous snake has no place inside a military base. All I could find was a six-inch flimsy stick to try to pin it down to catch it. This little snake was quite a lively cheeky devil rearing up, flaring his hood, hissing and trying to bite me. Nearby was a truck packed full of African national servicemen watching this crazy man playing with a snake. After several minutes, although quite tricky, I managed to pin the snake down and grabbed him behind his head. I held him up wriggling for all in the truck to see. Then the RLI streak of humour took over and I lobbed it slowly and high into the back of the truck full of African soldiers. All but two debussed immediately. Hey, good ambush training for them. The biggest of the group, big tough Sam, stood there frozen, trembling and crying. The smallest of the group calmly killed the snake with the butt of his weapon. Aye, if only we had it on video.

In a bush camp once the batmen called me over to kill a puff adder. I just caught it and carried it a couple of hundred yards outside of camp and released it. Maybe it would bite some terrorist scouting out our camp. With 3Cdo we were operating out of Grootvlei airstrip way down in the southeast. This area was very bad for ticks. Every day I would take my boots and socks off and there would be hundreds of tiny mites between my toes. Never had this problem existed anywhere else. Nearby was Mabalahuta base by Gona-re-Zhou National Park. Everyone knew the infamous Mabalahuta ants there. We often heard the screams of first-time visitors who unwittingly actually sat on the long drops where thousands of these little brown monsters would rush out between the planks and bite simultaneously. SAS guys poured gallons of diesel on their campgrounds to fight them. Our guys put foot powder or grease on the legs of their stretchers to stop them at night. If the corner of your sleeping bag touched the ground, a column of them would run up it and you would find them all over your face in the middle of the night. Eventually I just found the cab of a truck to sleep in. I have no idea how the resident game rangers put up with them. As a commando MA3 medic I twice treated soldiers who had a painful ear filled to the brim with earwax. Both times syringing flushed all the wax, along with it a big tick.

With Support Commando the day before R&R, I loaned my can of Mercurochrome spray to an RLI Aussie prankster. They pinned down this handsome RLI NCO, pulled down his shorts and sprayed red all over his one-eyed trouser snake and surrounding area. We don’t know how he explained it to his girlfriend on R&R.

Note: African mythology has it (incorrectly) that the common chameleon is highly poisonous. Hence the ability to clear areas (of Africans) with relative ease if you have a chameleon on your hand. Also a great aid during interrogation (if one is locally available) guaranteed to obtain instant and total cooperation.

[JMA]

Came a long way since the 1963 chopper drills:



To the real thing in 1979 - approaching the chopper for uplift:

[JMA]

Extract from the article by an American who served:

The moment I had anticipated with cautious enthusiasm began on the morning of my fifth day in the bush. We had finished breakfast and were getting ready for a weapons class when the siren for Fire Force sounded. Immediately the men of 12 Troop grabbed their kit and headed for the helipad. I was assigned to Sgt Taylor’s stick which included L/Cpl Hughes, the MAG machine-gunner Terry Hammond and myself. Terry was a good guy who had taken it upon himself to show me the ropes. Actually I don’t remember any ‘hazing’ upon joining 12 Troop other than good-natured kidding. Arriving at the helipad I applied our camouflage paint for the first time when it mattered, a dark brown/black. The camo was applied with fingers leaving streaks across our face and other exposed flesh. A few minutes after arriving at the Alouette III Sgt Taylor joined us from the ops brief. A British South African Police (BSAP) stick had observed a group of terrs in camp. By this time the blades were turning and we loaded our helicopters.

The swirling red dirt of the strip began to dissipate as our troop carrier bird, the G-Car, lifted off. We had an orientation ride during Training Troop but this was the real deal. I was headed to war as a Rhodesian commando. Of course I was nervous, the nervousness one experiences before any action that is dangerous. But in my past that meant jumping out of C130s, not going into a firefight! As the G-Car flew over the broken terrain of eastern Rhodesia I tried to remember the lessons we were taught in Training Troop. I do remember thinking Sgt Taylor’s stick consisted of very experienced warriors. Watch and learn. Keep your head in the game. As the flight moved ever closer to the terrorist sighting Terry leaned towards me and asked how I was doing. I nodded my head, gripped my FN rifle a little tighter, and told him I was OK. He gave me a thumbs-up and smiled. He told me it was not a big deal, nothing to worry about.

The air assault contingent arrived over the objective area and began to circle. Major Strong, our OC 3Cdo, directed the fight from his control bird, the K-Car. After several minutes of boring holes in the sky the Alouette III dropped towards the ground. Sgt Taylor gave us a look and the bird began to hover over the tall grass. Terry gave me a tap on the leg and I followed him out. We were located in an area of tall grass, four or so feet high, with several small trees scattered about. We kneeled as the bird lifted off then Taylor led us toward a small hilltop 30 or so metres away. I remember the stick was arranged in line with L/Cpl Hughes on the far right, then Sgt Taylor, Terry with the MAG and then me on the left. As far as I knew we were the only troopies on the ground. Taking my cue from Terry who was several metres to my right we moved slowly toward the base of the hill. Little did I know I would soon be engaged in my first firefight.

It wasn’t all that hot but the sweat still trickled into my eyes. It didn’t help that camo was mixed in with the sweat. I heard helicopters flying in the distance but had yet to hear any firing. The stick arrived where the hill began to slope upward. I had only Terry in sight. We stopped briefly; I saw Terry get up and motion me to move forward. Staying in line with Terry, I began to climb the slightly sloping hill while sweeping the front and sides with my eyes. The hill was probably 20-30m high with a couple of trees on the crown. A third of the way up the hill I heard my first shots fired in anger. Two AK-47 rounds cracked within hearing, then a third. Immediately, I heard Terry yell, “Hey, Yank! You had better get down. That bastard is shooting at you!” He then loosed a burst of 7.62 at the crown of the hill. Welcome to 12 Troop!

I quickly knelt down and began looking for the terrorist. Terry fired a couple more bursts and then stood up. He looked over at me motioning to move forward. He had a more relaxed attitude and I soon saw why. Coming down the hill was Sgt Taylor with a young terrorist capture. Taylor had come up behind the Charlie Tango (CT – communist terrorist) and took him prisoner. So this was the guy shooting at me. After several minutes a G-Car arrived and the terrorist was thrown on board. He would soon be in the possession of Special Branch (SB). Listening to his radio, Sgt Taylor led us back up the hill and down the other side. I had yet to fire my FN.

On the other side of the hill was a small valley with a stream and several trees. The terrain was fairly level with scattered exposed rocks, mostly flat, not offering much cover. The grass was still three- to four-feet high concealing the flat rocks. Trees obscured the view after several metres. Sgt Taylor put us back in line and we began to move forward up the valley. We heard shooting some distance away but Taylor kept us sweeping in the same direction. Terry and I were still on the right of the stick with a small hill to our right. My second wartime experience was about to occur.

Terry and I began to move forward ten yards apart. The going was slow as we were cautious advancing through the waist-high grass. The wind was blowing slightly and I could see white smoke through the treetops off to our right front. It turned out to be a grass fire started by tracers. I continued to position off Terry but could not see L/Cpl Hughes or Sgt Taylor. They were out of sight to Terry’s right. As we swept forward Terry and I fired into likely cover to flush any bad guys.

After a few metres we broke through the tall grass to one of the flat rocks. It was about ten feet in diameter and lying on the rock was a wounded terrorist though I saw no blood. Why was he lying in the open and not hiding in the bush? I immediately aimed my FN while Terry positioned his machine-gun to cover the tango. The terr was lying face down with his hands underneath him. We could tell he was still alive as his body shook, probably from fear. I looked to Terry for guidance as this was certainly not a situation I had experienced before. I thought we would have another capture for SB to interrogate. Not to be.

The CT was wearing denim jeans, a blue shirt and an olive-green jacket. He appeared to be in his late teens. I could see no weapon. Amazingly I had now seen two live terrorists within 45 minutes of my first contact. Terry approached the terr giving him a quick kick with his boot. The terr reacted with a small cry but did not rise up. Terry took a few steps backward and aimed the MAG at him. I was a cherry when it came to people suffering violent death. As Terry aimed his gun, I thought, here we go, and turned my head. I heard a burst of 7.62. Simultaneous with turning back to look, I heard Terry swear and fire a second burst. His first burst missed! I had a ringside seat as his second burst took the top of the terrorist’s head off. I was transfixed as the bad guy’s brain went flying through the air.

Terry and I stood looking at the dead terr as Sgt Taylor and L/Cpl Hughes came up. Terry reported what happened in a straightforward manner. The stick leader reported the death. Another dead terrorist or ‘floppie’. We continued to sweep through the tall grass for approximately another hundred metres. The contact ended with the death of eight or nine terrs. I saw the dead after they were loaded on a Bedford truck. They were thrown on top of one another like sacks of mealies, a hell of a way to end up. I felt no sympathy for the terrorist dead. Their cause was not the cause of freedom but one of dictatorship. As far as I was concerned they were communists and deserved killing.