Andrew J. Balaam - Bush War Operator: Memoirs of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Selous Scouts and Beyond

From the searing heat of the Zambezi Valley to the freezing cold of the Chimanimani Mountains in Rhodesia, from the bars in Port St Johns in the Transkei to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, this is the story of one mans fight against terror, and his conscience.

Anyone living in Rhodesia during the 1960s and 1970s would have had a father, husband, brother or son called up in the defence of the war-torn, landlocked little country. A few of these brave men would have been members of the elite and secretive unit that struck terror into the hearts of the ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas infiltrating the country at that time the Selous Scouts. These men were highly trained and disciplined, with skills to rival the SAS, Navy Seals and the US Marines, although their dress and appearance were wildly unconventional: civilian clothing with blackened, hairy faces to resemble the very people they were fighting against.

Twice decorated with the Member of the Legion of Merit (MLM) and the Military Forces Commendation (MFC) Andrew Balaam was a member of the Rhodesian Light Infantry and later the Selous Scouts, for a period spanning twelve years. This is his honest and insightful account of his time as a pseudo operator. His story is brutally truthful, frightening, sometimes humorous and often sad.

In later years, after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, he was involved with a number of other former Selous Scouts in the attempted coups in the Ciskei, a South African homeland, and Lesotho, an independent nation, whose only crimes were supporting the African National Congress. Training terrorists, or as they preferred to be called, liberation armies, to conduct a war of terror on innocent civilians, was the very thing he had spent the last ten years in Rhodesia fighting against. This is the true, untold story of these failed attempts at governmental overthrows.

The author, one of ten children, spent his early life moving between Bulawayo, in the then Southern Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, and Livingstone in Northern Rhodesia, now known as Zambia. His love of wildlife, fishing and the African Bush came from spending a lot of his time as a youngster fishing on the banks of the Zambezi River.

In 1966 he was called up for National Service and decided to join the Rhodesian Army. That was the era of peace in Rhodesia, and after doing a stint in the Rhodesian Light Infantry he left to join the Rhodesia Railways. However, war was on the horizon, and eight months after leaving, he re-joined the Rhodesia Light Infantry. Two years later he joined the famous Selous Scouts, where he stayed until the end of the war. After, leaving Rhodesia he ended up in the Transkei with Ron Reid Daly and other former members of the Scouts.

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Published by Helion & Company 2014

Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester, Dorset

Text and colour photographs A.J. Balaam 2014
Maps by George Anderson Helion & Company 2014

ISBN: 978 1 909982 77 2
Digital ISBN: 978 1 910777 45 9

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Contents

List of photographs

Photographs appear in central plate section

List of maps

I dont care how much they cost, pour this petrol on them and set them on fire.

Author ordered to burn his Chelsea boots by
Training Troop instructor Corporal Les Avery

You look like a bag of shit with a rope tied round the middle.

RSM WOI Robin Tarr to author

Sorry, corporal, I am going to have to lock you up in the armoury for the next week or two while we practise for the colours parade. With you on the parade square we will never finish. The sight of you drives the RSM crazy.

Colour Sergeant van Breda to author

What do you mean youre lost? I tell what you do: put your head between your legs and blow. If you see a blue flame, youre heading in the right direction.

Captain Reid-Daly to Corporal Trevor Mathews, Zambezi Valley

Christ sake, corp, you cant take beer with you on patrol. The boss will shit himself if he finds out.

Author to Corporal Paddy Ryan, Kanyemba, Zambezi Valley

Preface

W ar is not about jumping over logs and burning trucks, or kicking in doors and firing from the hip with grenades hanging from your teeth and a devil-may-care smile slapped on your face, as the enemy drop like flies. It is a heart-wrenching, soul-destroying, guilt-ridden and personality-changing experience. In guerrilla warfare there is no front line. The enemy has to be hunted down and eliminated, group by group, one by one. The pressure on both the hunter and the eliminator is incredible. Having performed the eliminator role in the Rhodesian Light Infantry Fire Force, and also with the Selous Scouts column raids into Mozambique, I found the loneliness of the hunter/commander role in the Selous Scouts to be the far more demanding of the two. The hunter works alone for long periods of time, relying entirely on his senses to survive. With nobody to talk to and no human companionship of any kind, he soon loses the ability to communicate properly with his fellow humans. Once the ability to communicate has been lost, he no longer has a release valve for his anger and frustrations. Over time, the anger and frustration build up, leading to extremely violent outbursts of anger, as well as long periods of depression.

As a youngster I was taught that to kill another human being was the worst crime possible. The training I received in the army was, for want of a better word, an attempt to re-wire me. I had to push aside and smother everything I had been taught as a child, and try to replace right and wrong with an unthinking, robot-like obedience to whatever instruction I was given. Brainwashed and fanatical are labels often associated with Special Forces. I do not believe I was a fanatic, or brainwashed. I did what I had to do to survive.

This is my story.

Acknowledgements

A book will never reach its final conclusion without the help of many people and this book is no exception.

Firstly, to Cath, thank you for patiently listening as I struggled to put my thoughts down on paper.

Shelley and Stan, thank you for the donation of the laptop, which saved hours of painstaking writing in longhand.

Pete Mac and Willie van der Riet, thanks guys for refreshing my memory.

John and Kath Costello, grateful thanks for your help, without which this book would never have been written.

Neil Kriel, thank you for turning a blind eye while I was writing during working hours!

Craig Balaam thanks for your help and encouragement in getting the ball rolling.

David Balaam, my brother, many thanks for driving me all over the country to obtain photos and jog my memory.