Issue 2 (JSHSS Vol. 2)

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Out of Action: By Chris Cooks. Johannesburg: 30 Degrees South Publishers 1999; pp 278.
(University of Namibia, 2013) Makombe, Tafirenyika
Chris Cocks’ (2008) Out of action is the sequel to his (1988) Fireforce – one man’s war in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. In Fireforce the writer narrates his life in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. In Out of action the twenty-one year old Cocks explains his double role as civilian and police reservist when he writes: “A few months before I had been Lance-Corporal Cocks. Now I was Police Reservist Cocks, attempting to begin a civilian career in agriculture” (Cocks, 2008, p. 24). In reality, however, there is no distinction between the two roles as a lance-corporal and police reservist because the Rhodesian police was militarised. In the army Cocks was a stick leader while in the police he is leader of a Police Anti-Terrorist Unit (PATU). The PATU was a paramilitary specialist unit in the British South African Police (BSAP) while a stick was a four to six-man unit or battle group in the Rhodesian Army. For both units their call was to respond to guerrilla sightings and engage them in combat.