Parabat

Profile of an Airborne Soldier

To be able to Parachute you must have some Gifts for the Selection Course, and you need Ability, Co-ordination and Confidence. But to be an Airborne Soldier, you must be Smart, Disciplined, Fit, Physically and Mentally tough, Determined, have a Team Spirit, be Aggressive, have Initiative and have a sense of Humor.

File:1ParaLogo Originalforweb.jpg

This is the old 1 Parachute BN Logo

Introduction

A parabat is a South African paratrooper. The word parabat is an abbreviated term, formed from the first parts of the 2 words: Parachute Batallion. The history of the Parabats started on 1st April 1961 with the formation of 1 Parachute Batallion(after 1994 renamed to Parachute Training Centre).

The parabats have performed many active operations in battle - producing many highly decorated soldiers - in the Bush War in Angola from 1966 to 1989. Arguably, the most famous battle was the attack on Cassinga in 1978. Cassinga was a SWAPO military base in Angola, approximately 250km from the Namibian (then: South West Africa) border. the attack was a full paratrooper drop and helicopter extraction. The battle lasted several hours and included trench clearing - with men going hand-to-hand after the drop (amid anti-aircraft fire) was almost a disaster with troops not landing as planned. The battle bacame a hot point of contention as SWAPO used the fact as a major PR drive. Since there were civilians present in the base (the South African army claimed them to be anything from families of soldiers to base prostitutes) SWAPO insisted that the base was a refugee camp.

Shortly after the formation of 1 Parachute Batallion, 2 Parachute Batallion, 3 Parachute Batallion and 4 Parachute Batallion were formed, but 4 Parachute Batallion was soon disbanded. The combined batallions were named 44 Parachute Brigade and later 44 Parachute Regiment.

The website: airbornesolider.com link title home of the 'South African Parabat', currently hosts a community of former and current SA parabats as well as brothers from the other airborne units worldwide.

As Special Forces

The Parabats formed part of The Special Forces concept of the S.A.D.F. During the first few years of its existence, the Parabats were the only special forces of its time in the South African Defence Force. Later they were joined by the establishment of the Reconnaissance Regiment and 32 Batallion in the 1970's. Jointly the Parabats and the Recces [Reconnaissance Regiment operators] wore the coveted maroon berets and were referred to as Special Forces.

After integration of the new South African National Defence Force, the Reconnaissance regiments had their names changed to the Special Forces Regiments and the Parabats could no longer use the title, since it was now the formal name of the Recces. Information about the recces can be gathered on their website Special Forces League: link title and 32Batallion at link title.

These units often trained together and operated together and soldiers often served in 2 or more of these units during their military career. It is noteworthy to say that the commander of the 1978 assault on Cassinga, Col. Jan Breytenbach (who served in the British SAS), a very respected Parabat, was also the founder of both the Recces and 32 Batallion. Each unit fulfilled a different purpose, with the Parabats fulfilling a conventional role in assaults and fireforce operations; 32 Batallion as a search and destroy, as well as reconnaissance role and the Recces performing long range reconnaissance and many other special forces related work from land, sea and air. To this day, the three units respect each other and have established a common brotherhood.

History

"The Americans fight for a free world, the English mostly for honor and glory and medals, the French and Canadians decide too late that they have to participate. The Italians are too scared to fight; the Russians have no choice. The Germans for the Fatherland. The Boers? Those sons of bitches fight for the hell of it!" (American General, George "Guts and Glory" Patton)

In 1960 fifteen volunteers from the S.A.D.F. were sent to England, the majority to train as parachute instructors; some as parachute-packers; and one S.A.A.F. pilot in the dropping of paratroopers. These formed the nucleus of 1 Parachute Bn. at Tempe in Bloemfontein. The first paratroopers were Permanent Force men, but soon the training of Citizen Force paratroopers commenced. Members of 1 Para Batt. were the first S.A. Army men to see action after WWII when, in 1966, they participated, with the South African Police, against terrorist insurgents in S.W.A. (now Namibia).

1 Para Bn. was organised as follows: Permanent Force - Batt. H.Q., H.Q. Coy and A and B Coy's; Citizen Force: C Coy Cape Town, D Coy Durban, E Coy Pretoria and F Coy Johannesburg. Further battalions were added: 1 Para Batt. in 1971 and 3 Para Batt. in 1977.

In 1974 and 1975 1 Para Batt. operated along the Angolan border with S.W.A; along the Caprivi Strip; a platoon jumped near Luiana to relieve a group of Bushmen trapped by a SWAPO force; and in Operation Savannah during the Angolan Civil War of 1974-5 when 2 companies of 1 Para Batt. were dropped on the northern border of SWA at Ruancana and Santa Clara to relieve two Portuguese communities trapped by the MPLA.

From April 1978 the 44 Para Brigade came into being under Brig. M J du Plessis as O.C. This Brigade became a powerful force. The first large airborne exercise of the Para Battalion Group took place in 1987 in the N.W. Transvaal (now N.W. Province). Eventually the Para Bde disbanded in Pretoria and moved to Bloemfontein, where the paratroopers were incorporated in 1 Parachute Battalion Group.

Over the years, the S.A. paratroopers have participated in eighty-four operations. Forty-five paratroopers have been killed in action.

The South African Paratroopers are, like their counterparts the world over, fit, tough, aggressive and totally committed; a confident and proud breed of men.

Selection

The average age ranges in the mid-twenties. The selection and training of today's parabats remains exceptionally rigorous to ensure that the standard of combat efficiency is retained at it's very high level. Generally, members of 1 Para will visit the various battalions each year early in the training cycle to look for volunteers. These must then pass a PT test at their unit prior to appearing before a selection board, which looks at their character and motivation. To Give would-be paras the endurance and the fitness they will need for operations in the harsh African conditions, the instructors of the 44th Parachute Regiment place particular emphasis on basic physical training. Young men volunteering for service with the parachute forces first undergo a battery of medical tests - as stringent as that for flying personnel - before setting off on a 4km timed run. Before they can recover their breath, they tackle the second test: 200m run in which each man carries a comrade on his back.

The applicants are then put through various psychological and physical tests - though these are usually well within the reach of anyone with sufficient motivation and willpower. The real ordeal will then start: for four long months, the paras will sweat it out during forced marches, physical exercises, shooting a sessions and kit inspections - all this barracked by the screams of their eagle-eyed instructors. Built like the a quarterback, the average South African drill instructor is a stickler for regulations, just like his British counterpart, and as stubborn as a mule. For example, trainees always take their grooming kit along with them on long marches and at dawn, when back at the base with aching bones, devote whatever little time is left they have to rest to 'spit and polish'.

Those who are accepted are then transferred to 1 Para, where they first complete the normal three-month basic training course, with some differences: PT twice a day, no walking in camp under any circumstances and a 5-10km run to end each day. Some 10 to 20 percent drop out during this phase, returning to their original units. All this builds up to what is called the ‘koeikamp’. It is 3 days of the ultimate challenge of physical and psychological endurance. Until the 90’s the Pt course was 2 weeks, but due to national service being shortened to one year the army had a need to change and make the training more compact and fast paced. Some of the ‘older’ Parabats still do Pt courses to make sure there’s no slack in the type of soldier that’s chosen.

The Agony

The would be paras get 1 rat pack (ration pack) to hold them trough this ordeal. During these days they are given tasks to perform in an allocated time slot Night marches, boxing, digging trenches and the carry of artillery canisters is just a few of the tasks that has to be completed under strict regulations. Each year the sequence of what ‘tests’ will be done to get the strongest out of the ‘wannabees’ changed so it comes as quite a surprise each year. Due to lack of sleep, hunger and extreme physical tasks a lot of the men give up. Leaving the best. The only obstacle, to finish the qualifying 12 jumps.

The Ecstacy

After a six week ordeal, the selected few (about 40% of the original intake), will make the 12 jumps required to obtain their wings. During this time the chances of being disqualified are also very high. This phase is followed by some six weeks of advanced individual training, during which such subjects as driving and maintenance, supporting weapons, signalling and unarmed combat are covered. Their instructors, however, always find that something is left to be desired with the inspection which invariably follows. To harden their muscles, trainees are made to carry a telegraph pole for two days, at a rate of 20km daily. Back at base, the 'marble', a stone weighing about 25kg which the soldier must carry wherever he goes, is used as a substitute for the same purpose.

Hardened by gruelling training and conversant with fighting tactics honed through 20 years of war, the South African ParaBat rightfully ranks among the world's toughest and most Elite airborne soldiers.

What is a Paratrooper

THE PHANTOM OF THE FLOSSIE by Willem Steenkamp

The paratrooper is a funny beast whose ways are mysterious in the eyes of the ground hugging foot infantryman. On his close-cropped head sits a beret of strange hue, preferably faded and battered ,to which he clings to as strongly as certain nasty stuff is said to adhere to a blanket. legend has it that it is easier to make the sun rise in the west than it is to persuade a paratrooper to wear any other form of headgear.

He sings strange and exotic songs, the words of which do not make sense to anybody who does not practise his perilous trade. For example, in spite of all physiological evidence to the contrary a paratrooper believes that in the event of a jumping mishap he can - and will - be ceremonially buried wrapped up in a "two-by-four" cleaning patch instead of a coffin.

He disdains sensible means of transport like nice comfortable army lorries which travel on fairly smooth roads and have wheels that go round and round. He prefers to arrive over his objective in a draughty C-130, execute a foot-stamping-tribal dance - although no-one knows which tribe would be mad enough to live 600 feet above ground - and then launch himself into thin air, entrusting his life to a couple of kilos of mighty thin cloth and a ritualistic cry which cannot be repeated in polite company.

His obsession with travelling light verges on insanity. Unlike other fighting men, he goes into battle without such necessary items of equipment as tanks, field guns, armoured cars SADFI canteen lorries or mobile shower units. Perhaps this is due to the fact that during basic training his constant companion is a couple of tons of concrete which he describes, with typical modesty, as a "marble".

Unlike the average staff officer, he does not believe that the Almighty is with the big battalions (unless they are parachute battalions, of course). With a demented belief in his own ability he is quite willing to take on a vastly superior force in the belief that he can win. (He also loses sometimes, but his fans say he does this deliberately to show that he is also human in spite of his air of godlike superiority).

He is a total snob. He believes that the South African Army consists of a handfull of parachute battalions, which do all the work while a vast horde of tea-drinkers, paper shufflers and oxygen thieves looks on and then will not give the jumping chaps their rights. So he sneers at all groundlings and neglects to salute their officers whenever he can get away with it.

All in all, he is a totally infuriating character - and does not give a hoot in hell if non-paratroopers don't like it. As long as he wears that battered beret and carries the magic wings on his chest, he knows he is not a man like other men. He is a "parabat", and "umbrella man", a "Red Devil" - call him what you like, for he and his ilk have many names in many countries; he siezes every epithet that is slung at him, and if it is a good one he will enjoy it, while if it is a bad one he will turn it into the name of honour.

But prejudices apart, what can one say about him? Just this: In spite of all the ballyhoo that surrounds him, he is actually one hell of a fellow.

The glamour, the beret and the wings do not tell of the desperately hard training or the suffering and death the parabat is willing to visit on his own perishable flesh. They do not tell of the blood and wounds suffered in distant places, nor of the graves over which the Last Post has called a final farewell. The men who enjoy the symbols of elitism do not talk much about the bad times either, except among themselves; a paratrooper who goes around whining to all and sundry about the hardships he has suffered isn't really a paratrooper.

So call the roll! Remember the battles and remember the dead. They speak of things that make the paratrooper what he is.

So may all your jumps go well, you fighting men of the clouds. May there ever be springs in the heels of your boots as you dive out of the sky to plant your feet in the places other men cannot reach.

Tannie Mossie

A very unique tradition of the Parabats are concerning Tannie Mossie (Eng: Aunt Mossie). Mossie is Afrikaans for “sparrow”.

Tannie Mossie is Ms Joan Abrams, a teacher in the city of Bloemfontein. She chose the name after the legend of a group of women who requested government to put a sparrow on the smallest coin in South Africa’s currency denomination. The reference comes from the Bible in Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (ESV)

The sparrow design was placed on the half cent, as well as the one cent. The design depicted two two “mossies” on a twig.

Tannie Mossie wanted every soldier to know that God will protect them “falling from the sky” with their parachutes. She handed every soldier a necklace, consisting of a half cent on a string of para-cord, before they were deployed for active duty, telling them the story of the women and of Matthew10:29. She truly loved the soldiers and the duty they were doing for their country and took it upon herself to be a mother or loving aunt to all of them. She enlisted thousands of elementary school children to write letters to the parabats, usually titled: “Liewe Oom Dapper Soldaat” (Dear Uncle Brave Soldier). These letters made such an impact to many soldiers, not only providing a face of the innocents that the soldiers were protecting, but also much more. Even soldiers killed in action were found with some of these letters, folder and tattered from repeated reading, folded inside their pocket Bibles. Lifelong friendships were found with families from these letters and an unknown amount of motivation came from them. Apart from letters, Tannie Mossie made sure that paratroopers regularly got other mail, food parcels, visits and even published a few books – which were mostly compilations of soldiers’ tales.