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Pro Patria (Second Edition): SADF Border Duty (1984-1988)
SADF Border Duty (1984-1988)
I was there. This is what I saw. This is what I did!
This is an expanded and updated version of the original 1995 version, and this book contains personal accounts of SADF service in the border war which qualified servicemen for the Pro Patria medal. It includes the `friendly fire’ incident at Okalongo base in March 1986, a mortarist injured in a rev on Eenhana, two sappers sweeping roads at Elundu and Eenhana, doctors at Ukuludi and Ombalantu, a health inspector at Eenhana, a psychologist’s border duty at Oshakati, and psychologists on PTSD Debriefing Teams on Ops Modular and Hooper, Quito Cuanavale. Appendices include the Model used for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Debriefings as used by the SADF in 1987/88.
I was there. This is what I saw. This is what I did!
This is an expanded and updated version of the original 1995 version, and this book contains personal accounts of SADF service in the border war which qualified servicemen for the Pro Patria medal. It includes the `friendly fire’ incident at Okalongo base in March 1986, a mortarist injured in a rev on Eenhana, two sappers sweeping roads at Elundu and Eenhana, doctors at Ukuludi and Ombalantu, a health inspector at Eenhana, a psychologist’s border duty at Oshakati, and psychologists on PTSD Debriefing Teams on Ops Modular and Hooper, Quito Cuanavale. Appendices include the Model used for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Debriefings as used by the SADF in 1987/88.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 5, 2021
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September 7, 2023
Pro Patria – SADF Border Duty (1984-88) 2nd Edition by Barry Fowler, 350 pages plus covers. Published by Sentinel Projects, https://sadf.sentinelprojects.com/. ISBN 9798780095705 (Paperback), ASIN B09N45C7CH (Kindle e-book) in 2021. Available at Amazon.com.
This book is the latest version of one first published by author/compiler Barry Fowler in 1995, that original being simply called Pro Patria.
In the almost 30 years since that first foray into recording, in print, the memoirs and recollections of former members of the South African Defence Force who served in the Border War in Northern South West Africa (now Namibia) and Angola during the period 1966 to 1989, much more has come to light regarding the first edition, and it is with this in mind that Barry has revised and updated his original collection of memoirs, to bring us this second edition, expanded and updated with most of the original accounts, and also some new personal accounts and information.
Having been denied permission to republish at least one set of recollections which were in the original book, and having removed another set which has been subsequently exposed as complete fantasy by the ‘veteran’ interviewed, Barry has included the remaining five chapters from his original publication, and added a further five new chapters, including two by men who served as Sappers at Elundu in 1987 and were involved, separately, in an incident when the base at Eenhana was revved on 14 March 1987, and another by a mortarist who was also caught up in this event. There are also the recollections of an Army doctor who served at the SWAPOL Ukulundi base in 1985, and recorded first hand accounts of a ‘friendly fire’ incident which happened at Okalongo Base on 29 March 1986, as recorded at the time by the Military Police investigating this.
Although quite a new and updated version of the original, this has nonetheless brought together an interesting collection of memoirs which lean more to the general soldier (e.g. Sappers, Mortarist) than to the almost exclusively medical service of the veterans he interviewed for the original book. As one would expect from different men, the telling in each case can vary from the fascinating to the mundane at times, but overall this is a valuable collection of memoirs once again, and the author is to be congratulated for keeping them in the public view.
The book concludes with an appendix, written by the author, on the Post Traumatic Stress Debriefing Model, and a list of references used when editing and transcribing the original interviews he conducted.
This reviewer has a few minor quibbles with this latest publication, in that, like the original, it lacks photographic and other images, apart from one photograph, and all of the men interviewed are not identified by anything other than their first name, and in some cases not even that. However, this book does contain Border Base layouts for no fewer than five bases mentioned in the book, complete with descriptions, all of which are new.
An interesting read, which I enjoyed all over again.
Highly recommended.
Peter Chapman
This book is the latest version of one first published by author/compiler Barry Fowler in 1995, that original being simply called Pro Patria.
In the almost 30 years since that first foray into recording, in print, the memoirs and recollections of former members of the South African Defence Force who served in the Border War in Northern South West Africa (now Namibia) and Angola during the period 1966 to 1989, much more has come to light regarding the first edition, and it is with this in mind that Barry has revised and updated his original collection of memoirs, to bring us this second edition, expanded and updated with most of the original accounts, and also some new personal accounts and information.
Having been denied permission to republish at least one set of recollections which were in the original book, and having removed another set which has been subsequently exposed as complete fantasy by the ‘veteran’ interviewed, Barry has included the remaining five chapters from his original publication, and added a further five new chapters, including two by men who served as Sappers at Elundu in 1987 and were involved, separately, in an incident when the base at Eenhana was revved on 14 March 1987, and another by a mortarist who was also caught up in this event. There are also the recollections of an Army doctor who served at the SWAPOL Ukulundi base in 1985, and recorded first hand accounts of a ‘friendly fire’ incident which happened at Okalongo Base on 29 March 1986, as recorded at the time by the Military Police investigating this.
Although quite a new and updated version of the original, this has nonetheless brought together an interesting collection of memoirs which lean more to the general soldier (e.g. Sappers, Mortarist) than to the almost exclusively medical service of the veterans he interviewed for the original book. As one would expect from different men, the telling in each case can vary from the fascinating to the mundane at times, but overall this is a valuable collection of memoirs once again, and the author is to be congratulated for keeping them in the public view.
The book concludes with an appendix, written by the author, on the Post Traumatic Stress Debriefing Model, and a list of references used when editing and transcribing the original interviews he conducted.
This reviewer has a few minor quibbles with this latest publication, in that, like the original, it lacks photographic and other images, apart from one photograph, and all of the men interviewed are not identified by anything other than their first name, and in some cases not even that. However, this book does contain Border Base layouts for no fewer than five bases mentioned in the book, complete with descriptions, all of which are new.
An interesting read, which I enjoyed all over again.
Highly recommended.
Peter Chapman
Displaying 1 of 1 review