DURBAN DIARIES ARMY LIFE CONTINUED

The other day I wrote a piece about my life at the army base in Durban and some of the things that happened. It wasn't all bad ,and as young guys we did get up to things to make it a little more bearable.

The base is situated on the one side of the bay ,on the Bluff. A piece of land that juts out into the Indian Ocean. This whole zone was a military zone and a no go area for civilians. Basically one road in and out with "top" security. The truth is the main gate guards were like old age pensioners, called Pioneers. The base teased us as it overlooked the bright city lights of Durban. On a Friday and Saturday night it was unbearable as we didn't get pass outs very often. Of all the Durban military bases we were the strict base with higher standards than most.

The first time we ventured out for an evening was a Friday night after roll call. Roll call was at 9 pm and we were already showered and dressed to party. We had no passes but had a plan to "escape " for a few hours. We didn't have a lot of money as we were poorly paid, but we wanted to get out of prison for the night. The consequences were quite high if we were caught but we had rolled the dice, and we were going.

After roll call we went in groups, and snuck out past our mates on guard duty at our base main gate. They saw us but wouldn't say a thing, as there would be trouble for them if they told anyone. It was a 5 km run down the road to the side of the Whaling Station which took us to the harbor mouth. We heard a rumor that a ferry operated here for fishermen. We waited for what seemed like ages and then this miniature boat arrived. We hopped in and expecting a trip to the Esplanade, which was basically the edge of the town center he chugged across the harbor mouth to the steps on the far side.Look at the photo above it is rather short lol. It dawned on everyone that we had a long way to go as it was now 10.30 pm and we had traveled about 200 m. After another 45 minutes of running and hitching rides we made it to our destination. In those days places closed fairly early so we had literally an hour or so before we had to go back.

We split up into pairs in order to get back and beat the 5.30 am roll call. . One of the other guys and myself starting making tracks back at around 2 am and hitched a lift to within 1 km of the military zone gates. We crept up to the perimeter fence and waited ,working out how to get in looking for any opportunity. The driver on duty delivered some tea and coffee in a Landrover at around 3.30 am for the "fantastic security".Grabbing our chance we climbed underneath the sail on the back and waited for his return trip to the base. He must have got a fright as whilst he was driving we tapped the back window to let him know we were on board. He dropped us at the barracks and we were home safe.

The others were not so fortunate and came in later during the course of the next day. They were now AWOl (absent without leave) and received punishment from chopping sleepers and having to wear a red helmet for two weeks. The red helmet showed everyone who you were and were a target for extra PT and inspections around the clock. In some cases you can get locked up for a period of time. More often or not you would be picked on by anyone with rank.

What we had learnt was that the Ferry was not a viable option we had to get "legitimate " passes or transfer to another base such as Natal Command nicknamed Hotel command. This base was situated on the beach and was very lax in everything they did. Every time we went out the guys from this base were always there.

I hatched a plan to ask the daughter of one of the Brigadiers to help me transfer. She worked on our base in the personnel department. It was a bad mistake as she agreed to help as long as I was nice to her. What did she want? She was seriously ugly (fugly) and now set her sights on me. I would rather go to prison than date her as that was not happening. My army mates played along and invited her if we went out for the night letting her know where we would be. I spent the night running and became an excellent dodger moving from one bar to the next. This lasted for about 4 weeks or so, then she must have got the message that I wasn't interested.

I laugh about these things now but believe me it wasn't overly funny at the time. There were other times when we went out in the boot of a car but that is for another time. These are just some of the memories hidden away in my archives. I hope you enjoyed them.