Writer takes a march down memory lane
SEVERAL photos smuggled through military lines form part of former conscript Paul Zunckel’s recently published army memoirs.
Now 60 and semi-retired from a career in shipping, the Ballito resident said he wrote
having reached a time in his life to reflect on his memories of a time that “as much as we begrudged and hated it, we look back at with nostalgia”. It does not touch on the controversial politics of the time.
“It’s about the average conscript, not the (elite) Recces and the PF (Permanent Force). It’s about the pimple faces who said goodbye to their girlfriends on the station platforms.
“It’s a blend between not being about the blood and guts and also not about doing nothing. It’s also a blend between the humour, the trepidation, the sadness, the longing for home and the growing in confidence, going from a ‘roofie’ (new recruit) to an ‘ou man’ (more long-serving conscript).”
While stationed at Ondangwa in the far north of then South West Africa during the war between apartheid South Africa and Swapo – now Namibia’s ruling party – Zunckel would ask the civilian drivers of fuel trucks that came to fill military fuel depots to mail his illicit camera films home to his parents in Colenso. Personal photography by soldiers was strictly prohibited.
For ordinary conscripts, the one or two years of national service involved a departure from boyhood, to boredom, action and becoming stoic, sometimes while under the command of sadists, which Zunckel captures in his book. It’s also full of old army jargon: “Ferrari” outdoor toilets, “gyppoing” (cheating) and “afkak” (punishing exercise).
He also highlights the close friendships that develop under such circumstances and questions whether conscription today might not offer direction, morals and discipline to today’s youth.
“But one year, not two, and involving a period of basic training where, at least, they learn to make a bed properly,” he suggested. “Then the focus should be on community service, helping out when there are natural disasters and border patrols.”
He said when speaking about national service with today’s youngsters, he was met with the reaction of “how can someone tell you what to do like that?”
“In those days, going to the army was just part of life. That was how it was and you didn’t question it.”
Zunckel’s book covers vast ground: Colenso, Zunckel’s original hometown from where he went to Maritzburg College; Kimberley, where he did his basic training; the region colloquially known as Ovamboland in Northern Namibia; Natal Command and the destinations Zunckel travelled by ship, often working as a deckhand.
“I finished the army on a Friday. On the Monday I started in the shipping business as a clerk for a ship’s agent in Durban. My job involved giving ship captains their newspaper, seeing to sick and dying seafarers in hospital and flying by chopper to deliver mail to passing supertankers.
“I developed a taste for adventure, seeing ships on the horizon, and I wondered where they were going.”
● The book sells for R250 and is at Exclusive Books King Shaka Airport Durban and Canal Walk Cape Town. It is also available via Amazon, Smashwords and Goodreads or from the author via https://pzunckel.wixsite.com/website