19 With a Bullet (23 page)

Dispatchers check paras prior to a training jump in the Caprivi Strip. The author is on the left with the MAG machine gun plus 500 rounds of ammunition.

Paras emplane for a training jump.

Paras en route to the training jump DZ.

Paras jumping into the Caprivi at M’pacha.

MAG gunner, Aaron ‘Doogy’ Green, takes a break during a patrol.

Valk
4 refill their water bottles from a muddy waterhole in Angola.

The author poses at the Angolan border fence. He is wearing a SWAPO cap and pin-on badge, a FAPLA sweat shirt, blue civvy sneakers and carries a SWAPO bag.

Valk
4 practise-fire their mortars in Owamboland.

A civilian truck becomes yet another SWAPO landmine victim in Owamboland. Most casualties were local black civilians.

A SWAPO-sympathetic kraal in Owamboland is torched by SADF troops.

The big grin from John Delaney signifies the end of an operation in Angola. The author is centre, looking out, with Aaron ‘Doogy’ Green on the right.

The author poses outside his tent at Ondangwa para base.

A captured anti-aircraft gun at Ongiva. The FAPLA gunners put up a brave and stubborn resistance, firstly against the Mirage aerial bombardment before lowering their barrels against the advancing paras.