Recent interview regarding my national service in 1986-87 in Namibia and southern Angola as a combat engineer

[westcliffe01]

Some may find this interview interesting, what it was like at one of the most remote outposts in Namibia and directly on the insurgent infiltration route. 1987 was very near the peak of the proxy war with massive soviet investment, Mig 21, 23 and 27 fighters, Sam 8 systems, 50 000 cubans many Russians and East Germans supporting the Angolan government. The CIA supporting Unita which included stingers.

I was part of the war against Swapo, thus I was not directly involved in the war in Angola with Unita, but we did do missions trying to keep north south lanes free from mines early in 87 before I became involved in more routine duties keeping the 1 dirt road cleared of mines which serviced the most northern SADF bases. My team walked 4000km in 210 days keeping that road open and preventing loss of life from landmines which also impacted the local tribes people who used the same roads.

I apologize in advance for the accents of myself and my interviewer, 24 years of living in the midwest has not "cured" me yet...

 

[tallyho8]

I apologize that I have not had the time to watch that 2 1/2 hour video but do want to thank you for your service and hope that it ended with you healthy and proud of your service.

 

[chiefcook]

Some may find this interview interesting, what it was like at one of the most remote outposts in Namibia and directly on the insurgent infiltration route. 1987 was very near the peak of the proxy war with massive soviet investment, Mig 21, 23 and 27 fighters, Sam 8 systems, 50 000 cubans many Russians and East Germans supporting the Angolan government. The CIA supporting Unita which included stingers.

I was part of the war against Swapo, thus I was not directly involved in the war in Angola with Unita, but we did do missions trying to keep north south lanes free from mines early in 87 before I became involved in more routine duties keeping the 1 dirt road cleared of mines which serviced the most northern SADF bases. My team walked 4000km in 210 days keeping that road open and preventing loss of life from landmines which also impacted the local tribes people who used the same roads.

I apologize in advance for the accents of myself and my interviewer, 24 years of living in the midwest has not "cured" me yet...

 

[dmccarty]

<sigh> Something else added to my To Watch List.

One of the sailing video channels we watch spent some time in Namibia, as well as, South Africa. Namibia was stunning. Never thought of a desert coastline would be some place to visit and see. Just amazing.

I am old enough to remember the proxy war going on in Namibia and other parts of Africa back in the day. Glad most of it is over with.

 

[westcliffe01]

Many different interviews on that channel including the folks who beat back Cuban and Angolan T55 tanks with their Ratel infantry fighting vehicles. Despite being outnumbered 6:1 and not having air superiority over the Angolan Mig 21, 23 and some 27's who bombed their positions on a near daily basis. Story of the battle here Battle of Cuito Cuanavale - Wikipedia

 

[ArlyA]

I'd like to thank you as well. The world needs more sappers.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'll try to watch it sometime soon. I went to Namibia in 1993 to hunt plains game and enjoyed the two weeks that I was there. Windhoek was a total party!!!! I was just there the day before and the day after the Safari, but I sure did enjoy bar hopping there!!!! The safari was on several large cattle ranches near Omaruru that where mostly about 30,000 acres each. I was told that was considered the amount of land needed to be able to raise cattle and live off of the land. All the wildlife had been just about killed off from the war, so the owner of the land fenced in his place and brought the animals in from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. He was one of the first to do this. A lot of them had escaped, so the hunting was as good outside his ranch as it was inside his fenced 30,000 acres. One day I'd like to go back, but I doubt it will ever happen because there are still too many other places that I want to see first.

 

[westcliffe01]

Eddie, for your benefit, I put a marker on Omaruru, so you can get a perspective on where you were at vs the so called "operational area" outlined in red. You can see that the Etosha National park was within the operational area, but it was not frequent that insurgents made it down to the Etosha area and there was certainly no lack of game within Etosha or in the Moremi or Chobe national parks in neighboring Botswana.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks, the map shows it pretty good. There where other things that killed off almost all of the native wildlife where I was at, but the owner of the ranch and his family had something to do with the war that I was never clear about. And this was in 1993 when I was there listening to their stories, so there may be some confusion in my memory.

Another, and probably bigger reason for the disappearance of the game was poaching to remove the wildlife so the cattle would have more food and water. I've read that it's very common to do this in other parts of Africa, but I didn't argue with them, or even bring it up while I was there. It could very well be that they are using the war as an excuse for what they themselves where responsible for.

They are German and their family has been there for over 100 years. I met a few of the other German farmers in the area when we hunted on their properties, and they all commented on how the wildlife was coming back since the war ended.

I liked it there and had a great time. Since going there, I've hung out with the owner, Peter Clausen, several times at the SCI Conventions in Reno and Las Vegas. It's called Okosongoro if anybody is interested.

Okosongoro Safari Ranch Namibia – Jagd und Gästefarm Okosongoro Namibia

okosongoro.com

 

[westcliffe01]

1993 was quite soon after cessation of hostilities and the first election in Namibia. They gained their independence in March 1990, a little more than 2 years from the time I was serving there. I have to wonder how they are doing now, some 30+ years later under 1 party rule.