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Bush War Operator
- Memoirs of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Selous Scouts and Beyond
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
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Bush War Operator
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Summary
Anyone living in Rhodesia during the 1960s and 1970s would have had a father, husband, brother, or son called up in the defense of the war-torn, landlocked little country. A few of these brave men would have been members of the elite and secretive unit that struck terror into the hearts of the ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas infiltrating the country at that time - the Selous Scouts.
Twice decorated - with the Member of the Legion of Merit (MLM) and the Military Forces' Commendation (MFC) - Andrew Balaam was a member of the Rhodesian Light Infantry and later the Selous Scouts for a period spanning 12 years. This is his honest and insightful account of his time as a pseudo operator.
In later years, after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, he was involved with a number of other former Selous Scouts in the attempted coups in the Ciskei, a South African homeland, and Lesotho, an independent nation, whose only crimes were supporting the African National Congress. Training terrorists, or as they preferred to be called, "liberation armies", to conduct a war of terror on innocent civilians, was the very thing he had spent the last 10 years in Rhodesia fighting against. This is the true, untold story of these failed attempts at governmental overthrows.
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What listeners say about Bush War Operator
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Justin Smith
- 28-12-22
Bush war operator
I found the stories in this title very interesting, a real eye opener and very informative, sad and funny.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-02-24
Trials and tribulations
A great story of a modern, Rhodesian Bildungsroman. The fight for country, brother and the bitter sweet taste of a pawn in a failing South African republic. Good humour and stories that will have you shaking your head at their exploits. To the RSS, Thanks for trying.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Richard Green
- 15-08-21
Down to earth account of the betrayal of Rhodesia.
Very moving. We never learn from history do we? A good recount told is here.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Schaale
- 27-11-21
Fascinating and an revealing diary of events but poorly written and performed
This worth the listen but would be great if re-written and has a more interested performance, the current performance is monotone and sound like reading of a phone directory.
The story deserves a rewrite and a good performance
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Dave
- 27-12-20
excellent
what a rollercoaster ride. loved this book from start to finish. looking forward to the next installment as i write this.. fantastic read..
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Minx3008
- 02-07-23
Excellent story and well read.
As an ex soldier with an interest in the bush wars and Specialist units this was a great listen.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- GREGORY PRATT
- 03-08-22
Complex and controversial Bush War
Fascinating hard nosed story about the Bush War, RLI and Seleous scouts. Tough and sometimes dark but real and raw experiences that gives you an insight to the complexities of the Bush War. Full of little stories itself, for anyone wanting to understand what happened in Rhodesia and perspective from a soldiers view on some of the big incidents. Would have liked a better historical background and lessons learnt on reflection but it’s not that sort of book.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Perry
- 04-12-21
Please, please pronounce things properly!
how can you have a narrator of a soldiers life in the elite Selous Scouts (pronounced Sall-oo) who cannot even pronounce the units name properly!! its is not Sellus Scouts! so frustrating that I am stopping after less than 10 minutes...I will read the book instead and enjoy correct pronunciation in my head! surely there are Southern African narrators out there??
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- alan rhodes
- 12-10-23
I have listened to the SAS in Rhodesia
Before but wow this extended far beyond those before. With such incredible people fighting one wonders why the most but of course it was an inevitable out cone as time progresses and we move on from the colonial times ( but once you do which is right we find other countries will move in ? Such a shame but then look at the countries that got their freedom ? Corruption rules as it does in our country but on a very low scale
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-10-21
A poor poor book
The repetitive nature of the book in fairness probably didn’t help the narration which is not great. The book itself lends zero insight into the author’s motivation to actually fight in any of the conflicts he was involved in, no background or overview of the overall situation in Rhodesia or later South Africa either.
All in all save ten hours of you’re life and if you are interested in this subject matter there are many other authors who give a far more open account of there motivation and beliefs making you actually care whether they survive or not unlike Balaam who comes across as soulless.
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