9th-12th-Lancers - Year 1984 - Page 0114
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1984 |
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THEQTHrlZTH ROYAL LANCEHS RFGiMrNrAi iounv/tt Uganda Safari [12 The Camp Entrance 2 ~ to; , “- iralia, Tanzania and Sierra Leone represented An attachment to Commonwealth Military Training Team Uganda For a very long time I believed that when people went on a certain kind ol posting they had volunteered lor lone, not loan, servtce As l sat 250 miles, 7 hours rough ride from the next best thing to civilisallon With an Australian Sergeant as the only other white for Company, I often believed I was right, On loan to the Commonwealth Secretariat, who in turn sent us to train the Ugandan Army, we were a hotch , pmch of 7 commonwealth countries trying to get on With each other and a lob, Most lived on Lake Victoria at the School of lntaniry in Jtnia, but the forgotten few, among whom I was counted, disappeared even further into the mass of Africa in the direction of Zaire and a patch of ground, a few Nissen huts and half a range (lsraeli built), graridly known as the Military Training School, Kabanba. Soldier Magaztne described Kabanba as a 'boot canip‘ and said no motel |t defies description - 700 soldiers most of them who have no baSlC training. uniforms or even boots!; an assortment at every rille imaginable, live ammunition, an appalling diet and us We tried to sort out the chaos With varied success but the demands on patience, a constant need to remind yoursell of the aims, and the great disparity in knowledge (what was Obvious to you was not obvrous to themi were far greater than on any military knowledge one might possess. Language was a trial, English being more in common than Swahili or the varied tribal dialects but, far from universal, There were appalling frustrations, resolvmg what you wanted to teach With what you could teach , cleaning rilles with no oil or rag, tire and movement wheii lliey only ate a bowl of beans and meal a day I remember well losing my temper With a course who were always, always late, until the awful realisation that of 250 men, none had watches! Coupled With this was an absence of running water, erratic electricrty, bone shaking rides iii beaten - up landrovers for hours on end, the occaSional bandit threat, unpredictable guards and illegal VCPs l' |
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