[1mason]

That truly was an amazing story. It is too bad that the prejudices and narrow mindedness of many are directed at the individuals, who, in most cases through no design of their own, were thrown into that hell hole when its the politics that are to blame. I am proud that a man of that temper is calling Canada his home.

[Steve Ashton]

Please remember that this article was not just about me. It was planned as a large 4th of July expose of "Americans now living in Victoria, who are of an age to have lived through the Viet-Nam years but now live in Canada, and how the war effected them."

The article highlighted people from both sides. Those who served and those who did not.
It also gave their individual reasons for both decisions. And you know what? Both decisions were right. For that person, at that time.

Jack Knox is a very well respected journalist and I probably would not have given the interview to anyone else.
Out of respect for my adopted city and country (and yes, I hold dual citizenship) I am very careful because I know not everyone likes that I volunteered to serve.


And just how the heck does someone from Cincinnati dig up this article in the first place?

[Macman]

Originally Posted by ThistleDown

A man of principle and compassion; of conviction and sensitivity.

Indeed! I am glad to have met Steve and am proud to call him my friend.

[Mike_Oettle]

Thanks, Green Dragon, for posting that story about Steve. (How did you track it down from Cincinatti, anyway?)
Steve’s position is something like my own. I have not moved to another country, but the country I live in has changed radically, in ways that enable me to sympathise with him.
Like most white South African males I was called up for military duty. I underwent nine months’ training at an infantry base dominated by Afrikaner instructors and officers who largely had a racist and anti-English-speaking outlook on life.
When I joined my Citizen Force regiment (equivalent to National Guard or Territorial Army) the Afrikaner influence was to a large extent absent, since the unit recruited mostly English-speakers. Our officers included lawyers and gentleman farmers. However we had Afrikaner instructors from the Permanent Force supervising our training.
I was not called up for active duty against an enemy until I had attended four training camps with the unit, which had been assigned to a conventional warfare role in case of an invasion.
However at the fourth training camp we were issued with field uniforms (new since our initial training) and told we would be sent to “the border”, also known equally vaguely as the “operational area”.
The following year the unit entrained for Grootfontein, the South African military staging post in northern South West Africa (now Namibia), and was immediately taken by lorry to Oshivelo, an acclimatisation camp at the entrance to the Bantustan state of Owambo (occupying the middle section of the border between Angola and SWA). After two weeks’ acclimatisation, we went operational in more or less the middle of Owambo for close on three months.
Had I had the choice of volunteering for this duty, I might have considered absenting myself. But the alternative was a life as a fugitive, vulnerable to arrest at any time by the military police. Many young men who chose this option went to live in faraway countries.
I was willing to serve in Owambo because, despite my political opposition to apartheid, I saw a need to halt the infiltration of South Africa (which, from a strategic point of view, if none other, included South West Africa) by insurgents trained in either Soviet Russia or Red China.
On more than one occasion I said that if we had a different government, I might consider volunteering for additional service, and several guys said this was a “political” statement (that is, something a soldier should not be saying).
This was my final tour of duty, and the following year I was placed on the reserve.
In the following decade tensions in South Africa increased considerably, and many young men were called up for duty in urban areas, mostly the black African locations or “townships”.
A movement called the End Conscription Campaign came into being, and at the invitation of my bishop I submitted an affidavit stating that if I were to be called up for township duty, I would refuse to go.
No call-up came, but that was not the end of the story.
Now that the African National Congress is in power, I am on occasion criticised for having “supported” the apartheid regime.
Steve, I feel that I know the position you are in.
Regards,
Mike

[starbkjrus]

Originally Posted by KiltedKnome

snip....

If anyone is interested in the entire series, I can send them a link via PM.

Oooooo Ooooooo me me please.

[cajunscot]

Originally Posted by Mike_Oettle

Thanks, Green Dragon, for posting that story about Steve. (How did you track it down from Cincinatti, anyway?)
Steve’s position is something like my own. I have not moved to another country, but the country I live in has changed radically, in ways that enable me to sympathise with him.
Like most white South African males I was called up for military duty. I underwent nine months’ training at an infantry base dominated by Afrikaner instructors and officers who largely had a racist and anti-English-speaking outlook on life.
When I joined my Citizen Force regiment (equivalent to National Guard or Territorial Army) the Afrikaner influence was to a large extent absent, since the unit recruited mostly English-speakers. Our officers included lawyers and gentleman farmers. However we had Afrikaner instructors from the Permanent Force supervising our training.
I was not called up for active duty against an enemy until I had attended four training camps with the unit, which had been assigned to a conventional warfare role in case of an invasion.
However at the fourth training camp we were issued with field uniforms (new since our initial training) and told we would be sent to “the border”, also known equally vaguely as the “operational area”.
The following year the unit entrained for Grootfontein, the South African military staging post in northern South West Africa (now Namibia), and was immediately taken by lorry to Oshivelo, an acclimatisation camp at the entrance to the Bantustan state of Owambo (occupying the middle section of the border between Angola and SWA). After two weeks’ acclimatisation, we went operational in more or less the middle of Owambo for close on three months.
Had I had the choice of volunteering for this duty, I might have considered absenting myself. But the alternative was a life as a fugitive, vulnerable to arrest at any time by the military police. Many young men who chose this option went to live in faraway countries.
I was willing to serve in Owambo because, despite my political opposition to apartheid, I saw a need to halt the infiltration of South Africa (which, from a strategic point of view, if none other, included South West Africa) by insurgents trained in either Soviet Russia or Red China.
On more than one occasion I said that if we had a different government, I might consider volunteering for additional service, and several guys said this was a “political” statement (that is, something a soldier should not be saying).
This was my final tour of duty, and the following year I was placed on the reserve.
In the following decade tensions in South Africa increased considerably, and many young men were called up for duty in urban areas, mostly the black African locations or “townships”.
A movement called the End Conscription Campaign came into being, and at the invitation of my bishop I submitted an affidavit stating that if I were to be called up for township duty, I would refuse to go.
No call-up came, but that was not the end of the story.
Now that the African National Congress is in power, I am on occasion criticised for having “supported” the apartheid regime.
Steve, I feel that I know the position you are in.
Regards,
Mike

Mike, thank you for sharing your experiences in the SADF with us. Few Americans are still aware of the differences in the European population of the RSA. I remember how the American media villified all South African whites as supporters of apartheid & Boer in heritage, which simply is not true.

T.

[BoldHighlander]

Originally Posted by cajunscot

Mike, thank you for sharing your experiences in the SADF with us. Few Americans are still aware of the differences in the European population of the RSA. I remember how the American media villified all South African whites as supporters of apartheid & Boer in heritage, which simply is not true.

T.

Hear! Hear!

[cessna152towser]

Originally Posted by KiltedKnome
snip....

If anyone is interested in the entire series, I can send them a link via PM.

Yes, I would also be very interested in the entire series as many of my relatives live on Vancouver Island.

The article highlighted people from both sides. Those who served and those who did not.
It also gave their individual reasons for both decisions. And you know what? Both decisions were right. For that person, at that time.

It really shows what a great guy Steve is that even though he took all these risks and sacrifices he acknowledges that for those who dodged draft it was the right decision for them. Steve is a great ambassador for the kilt.

[BobsYourUncle]

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

Yes, I would also be very interested in the entire series as many of my relatives live on Vancouver Island.


It really shows what a great guy Steve is that even though he took all these risks and sacrifices he acknowledges that for those who dodged draft it was the right decision for them. Steve is a great ambassador for the kilt.

Hear! Hear!

[Livingston]

Bobbie, please send me the links too.

I was someone who was in between Steve and those who crossed the border. I was not fond of what was going on having seen one cousin drafted and sent to Germany as a radar operator when he had vision that was extreamly bad to say the least. His older brother was married, had three children, divorced and drafted also. He was sent to Viet Nam. Three months after arriving he had passed out due to heat, was laid under a tarp on top of a bunker to get any air movement possible. Shortly after that a morter round landed on top of the bunker and his children no longer had a father.

I came up number 24 on the same lottery as Steve. Then I received my grades and found out I just needed .00001% higher to keep my deferment. I quickly found a reserve unit to join and was thwarted by a 6" snowfall, in Kansas anything over 1" closes down a city, on the day I was to be sworn in. No problem, they posponed a week. That Thursday I received a letter starting out "Greetings from the President". I went ahead and was sworn in on Sunday, went down to the draft board on Monday to explain what was going on. She had me write a letter dated 2 months earlier and then tore up the notice.

I wasn't about to be sent over there but then again I wasn't about to run, too great of a tradition in our family going back to the mid 1700's and possibly before, on BOTH sides.