Bush War Operator by A.J. Balaam
$7.99
Bush War Operator
- Memoirs of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Selous Scouts and Beyond
- By: A.J. Balaam
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Military & War
Publisher’s Summary
Anyone living in Rhodesia during the 1960s and 1970s would have had a father, husband, brother, or son called up in the defense 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.
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 12 years. This is his honest and insightful account of his time as a pseudo operator.
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 10 years in Rhodesia fighting against. This is the true, untold story of these failed attempts at governmental overthrows.
©2014 A.J. Balaam (P)2020 Tantor
Amazon Customer
Very much the memoirs of the time.
the author is very credible and sounds like a person relating genuine experience rather than telling a story. I enjoyed it but the toll this cost the author is apparent. read if you want a ring of truth to things.
Bruce Doran
Interesting but confusing times
This book had a really interesting topic and conveyed many of the experiences well. However it was often a bit confusing with the author shifting quickly between major events without any connections. Often context or reasons for particular stories were lacking. Sometimes things seemed contradictory – for example towards the end he says a number of times that “.. his brother in law came to pick him up” but in the next section talks about the benefits of being single.
All this is a pity because the reader is outstanding.