As time passes, people are forgetting that there was a time when all white men in South Africa had to do national service. When the requirement for doing national service first began (around 1969), the period of national service was nine months. Essentially what was required was that a young man had to go into the Army or Navy or Air Force for nine months to perform some sort of training operation and leave after that period to pursue a future career.

As South Africa developed into a country which effectively fought a war against the so-called terrorists, this period extended to two years, and young South African men served real national service and effectively were in periods of real conflict. The last period of national service was, I think, in 1992, and a considerable period has elapsed since then.

The attitude of the young men who served during national service varied considerably. Some of them, in the Army, considered it a complete waste of time, while others in the Air Force and Navy had a different view. I, personally, served in the Navy. One was lucky if one served in any school of service other than the Army, because the number of people so serving was proportionately a lot lower, and the calibre of personnel in command was much higher in the Navy and Air Force.

There was a belief that it was harder to serve in the Army than in the Navy. This was true to an extent, but not entirely so. I personally found the Navy service to be tough indeed, although I am quite sure the Army personnel felt the same way. Those who served in the Army almost inevitably spent some time serving on the border of South Africa or South West Africa (now Namibia), which was quite tough. Those who served in the Navy didn’t have to go to the border as much, but they had to do service at places similar to the border.

At the beginning of all national service, the young men called up had to indulge in extremely tough training and the training did reduce in difficulty as the service decreased, but not by a huge degree. It is a great pity that this concept of national service did not persist. Certainly now, many young men leave school and are not particularly fit because schools are not designed any more to allow for fitness, and this is not a good thing.

The age of the young men who served depended on whether or not they had gone to university or college after school. If they had gone, they generally went to do their national service afterwards, which would put them at an age of between 22 and 23. Those directly out of school joined up at the age 18.

Not all the servicemen were white or even men. There was a considerable number of people of colour and females who served. As I have said, some of those who served thought the whole thing was a dead waste of time. On the other hand, some found it quite rewarding. In the Navy, I found that I was called up to a hardworking and very efficient organisation. I can’t say how well or poorly the Army was run.

In a few forthcoming articles, I will try to give an idea of what it was like to do national service about 35 years ago in the Navy. Despite many hardships, I have a lot of good memories and made many friends. Thus, as with all good stories, of which the Army has plenty, it is probably a good idea to begin at the beginning. I am not going to go chapter and verse through my experiences, but I would like to give an impression of what it was like to serve as a young man in the defence force – in this case, specifically the Navy. To begin at the very beginning, I was sent with others to Durban Naval Command and that is where our story will begin.