A war is not always a war. There is fun in between as well.

Apologies for those who were waiting for my blog last week, I was out of town once again and did not have any access to the Internet. I really hope though that this did not prevent you from my on line store at 

http://www.bestforreading.com. In my shop you will find everything you need at bargain prices. Remember to visit http://www.bestforreading.com.

While I was a way we once again started talking about the South African National Defence Force who pulled out of the Central African Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African Republic. This brought the conversation to the period when South Africa under the apartheid regime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africa  was involved in the Border War on the boarder between present day Namibia and Angola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War. Once again I am not interested in the politics or the pros and cons of these wars. 

War is not always war and in between there is laughter as well. When I did my stint on the border during my two years national conscription, my unit was stationed at http://www.africastay.com/namibia_map.html. Soon after that my platoon were moved to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshakati. A military convoy had to take food and ammunition to a base camp a few kilometres from the Angolan border. Now for those who do not know a platoon is divided into four sections. My section was chosen to be the rear -guard of this convoy. Besides the trucks to convey the stock, the troops guarding the convey travelled in armoured vehicles called Buffels (Buffalo).  

Buffel from the front

A armoured troop carrier

Our Buffel not only formed the rear guard, but had to hook on a trailer with ammunition. We were not far gone when the truck in front of us broke down. As my section formed the rear guard we had to wait at this truck. After a while we realised that the ammunition had to be delivered at the base, Ntalie. My Section

 Leader told the driver to follow the road.  By this time we had lost radio contact and my section leader to travel on and to see if we can find the base. We kept on travelling on this dirt road until we saw South African soldiers waving at us. we stopped but also noticed buildings in ruins and with bullet holes.  The soldier asked if we travelled on this dirt road and when we said yes he asked us if we knew we are in Angola and that this dirt road has not been swept for landmines at least for two weeks. 

This did not frighten as (or so we would have liked to show our fellow soldiers). My section leader, after consultation with all us, decided to take the ammunition back through the bushes. Needless to say after two punctures later we decided to go back onto the road. If we hit a landmine tough luck, The Buffel had no more spare tires and we had to take a change. A few kilometres back in Namibia, we saw the bunkers with the old South African flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_African_flags. Needles to say after the ammunition was dropped off and had a cold beer we had to rush off to get back to Oshakati to reach the curfew. We reached Oshakati grey from dust and dirty. So much so that we hardly recognised each other.

Remember for ANY book on any war visit my on line book store http://www.bestforreading.com