bulldogg
Milforum's Bouncer
Letter from a Freestate farm kid, now doing basic training in a
commando unit in South Afrika.
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell my boetie Wouter and my other boetie
Koos, that being in the Kommandos beats working for oom Piet by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6
am, but am now starting to enjoying sleeping late. Tell Koos and Wouter
all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine something. No
varke to feed, no cows to milk, no mampoer to mix or braai wood to split.
Practically nothing. Manne get to shave but it is not so bad, there is
warm water.
Breakfast is strong on fruit juice, pap, eggs, bacon, etc.. but short
on steaks, boerewors, chops, potatoes and other regular food like
vetkoek. But tell my boeties you can always sit between two dorpies that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed
again.
These city boys can't walk much. We go on "route" marches, which the
Sersant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not
my place to tell him different. A "route" march is about as far as to our
postbox at home. Then the dorpies from the city get sore feet and we
all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.
This next bit will kill my boeties with laughter. I keep getting
medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a
dassie's head and doesn't move at all. And it isn't shooting back at
you like those bliksemse Venter boys from the next door plaas. All you
have to do is lie there all rustig like and hit it. You don't even have to
make your own cartridges - they come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to
wrestle with the dorpies from the city. I have to be really careful
though, they break real easy. It's not like fighting with Swart Duivel,
our old bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this platoon
except for that Groot Jan Jordaan from Commando Training somewhere in the Noord Transvaal. He joined the same time as me. But I am only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he is 6'8" and weighs over 300 pounds, dry.
Be sure to tell my boeties to hurry and join before other okes find
out about this Kommando setup, and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
ESTER.
commando unit in South Afrika.
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell my boetie Wouter and my other boetie
Koos, that being in the Kommandos beats working for oom Piet by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6
am, but am now starting to enjoying sleeping late. Tell Koos and Wouter
all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine something. No
varke to feed, no cows to milk, no mampoer to mix or braai wood to split.
Practically nothing. Manne get to shave but it is not so bad, there is
warm water.
Breakfast is strong on fruit juice, pap, eggs, bacon, etc.. but short
on steaks, boerewors, chops, potatoes and other regular food like
vetkoek. But tell my boeties you can always sit between two dorpies that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed
again.
These city boys can't walk much. We go on "route" marches, which the
Sersant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not
my place to tell him different. A "route" march is about as far as to our
postbox at home. Then the dorpies from the city get sore feet and we
all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.
This next bit will kill my boeties with laughter. I keep getting
medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a
dassie's head and doesn't move at all. And it isn't shooting back at
you like those bliksemse Venter boys from the next door plaas. All you
have to do is lie there all rustig like and hit it. You don't even have to
make your own cartridges - they come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to
wrestle with the dorpies from the city. I have to be really careful
though, they break real easy. It's not like fighting with Swart Duivel,
our old bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this platoon
except for that Groot Jan Jordaan from Commando Training somewhere in the Noord Transvaal. He joined the same time as me. But I am only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he is 6'8" and weighs over 300 pounds, dry.
Be sure to tell my boeties to hurry and join before other okes find
out about this Kommando setup, and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
ESTER.