CHAPTER 19 ENTER THE SELOUS SCOUTS

 The Selous Scouts, or Skuz’apo, as they were called by the enemy, were a unit of special forces soldiers, both black and white. Their task was to infiltrate the enemy ranks when they entered the country, entice them into a specific area, and then call in the fire force to wipe them out. It was a very dangerous occupation.

Terrorist survivors of  contacts with Rhodesian Security Forces were invited to join this illustrious unit. Those who decided against joining the Selous Scouts were charged and dealt with by the civil courts. Those who decided to change sides then received training as if they were Rhodesian Soldiers which included parachute training.

The vast majority of the Selous Scouts were extremely brave men, who were forced to adapt from fairly primitive weapons and training to jumping out of aircraft in a matter of weeks. Only very few men can claim to be that type of warrior, and the black African soldiers of Skuz’apo were such men.

Despite the success of the initial operation by the SAS, some heavyweights within the Rhodesian Army still believed parachuting was the preserve of special forces, and so it was the Rhodesian Special Forces units who were trained first. It was not until   August 1976, that the first Selous Scouts course came through the doors of the Parachute Training School. They were lead by the African Regimental Sergeant Major RSM Mavengere – a capable and brave soldier. The RSM was probably the keenest and by far the oldest man on the course, and was determined to lead the way

This photograph is of the fourth Selous Scouts basic Static Line Course and shows RSM Mavengere in the centre  of the first first row behind the seated PTS staff. The seated PJI's from L to R are Sgt Paul Hogan, Flt/Lt Frank Hales, Sgt Kevin Milligan,and Sgt Pete Marshal. RSM Mavengere was injured on his first course but qualified on this course after completing the necessary eight parachute descents. A large number of these soldiers were recoursed having failed the previous courses.either through injury or the dribble factor on exit. 

He was injured on his fourth static line jump, but this did not deter him in the least. As soon as his leg healed he completed his course, followed shortly after by a HALO course. The RSM was a man who truly believed in leading from the front. On a number of occasions I was invited to the Selous Scouts for various social events, and often took my children with me. If the opinions of children are any indication as to a man’s character, then RSM Mavengere was one of the very best – they loved him.

The same could not be said about all the Selous Scouts who came through the PTS. At times we had problems with some of the less enthusiastic members of this unit. This was most likely because they were the members captured and then recruited after enemy contact.

Their reluctance was understandable -they were abruptly informed the deal they’d struck with the Skuz’apo had changed, and now included jumping out of aircraft. Most came from poor rural backgrounds with limited experience of anything modern, and now they found themselves in the middle of an Air Force base, surrounded by strange machines. It must have been frightening, almost like being on another planet, surrounded by strange men speaking a foreign, highly technical language.

All potential paratroopers had to be volunteers. This was emphasised throughout the course, not only by me, but by the PJIs as well. A number of trainees requested a return to their original unit and were never penalised because of this decision. As far as the PTS was concerned, you were able to pull out at any time until the eighth jump without repercussions. After that, it was another story.

 There was no discrimination toward the trainees by the instructors – it did not matter if you were black, white, brown or yellow; as far as the PJIs were concerned all students  were green. The parachute did not discriminate and neither did we. Having said this, it was of course, generally easier to teach those who spoke and understood English as their first language, and who had enough education and experience with technology to trust the equipment we used.

Up to this time, all the troops who went through the school had been Anglo-Saxon, English speakers, and all were destined to be SAS. These men passionately wanted to be in ‘C’ Sqn Rhodesian SAS and, because of this innate enthusiasm, were easy

to train. They understood and followed instructions precisely which meant the  pass rate on Basic Static Line courses was always in the very high nineties.

Our first Selous Scouts course was different. For the first time it contained a number of black men, some of whom were not entirely happy about being there, and many of whom spoke limited English, and had only basic education. Nevertheless, the ground training phase was completed to a satisfactory standard and most seemed to be looking forward to putting the theory into practise.

The big day of the first jump arrived and the trainees were taken by their section instructors and ordered to fit their parachutes. The course emplaned and one of the PJIs jumped out as the drifter. The pilots adjusted their run in and the first pair of Selous Scouts jumped out. The first man out was RSM Muvangere, who, as expected, carried out all the drills in a satisfactory manner. The second man out was one of the white men on the course, who also did a reasonable job. The next pair was not so good, and it soon became apparent that when it came to the black troopers the exits left a lot to be desired.

The big problem was to get them to jump forcefully against the power of the slipstream, which in the case of the Dakota, would always try to blow you back inside. In a large number of cases the black soldiers just stepped down at the door, or simply collapsed and fell out. This could be very dangerous with static line parachutes, especially if the soldier twisted his way out, or just sat and fell out.

The PTS staff were horrified and complained. I told them in my usual quiet way to get on with the job and to concentrate on exit technique. In almost all cases, after the parachute deployed, the drills were carried out in a reasonable manner. However, I was not happy with the way these, our first black African troops, performed and reported my concerns to Ron Reid Daly ( C.O.) of the Selous Scouts), Air Force HQ and Army HQ.

This photograph shows the remnants of the first Selous Scouts Static Line Parachute Course. This course started with twenty men but due to the Dribble factor on exit technique only ten men qualified for parachute wings. After an improvement in training techniques and the lowering of some standards the pass rate increased to a more acceptable 70% to 80%.

By the end of the first Selous Scout course, about 50 per cent of the members failed due to bad exit technique. We even installed a movie camera to record the frightening sequences as the troops left the door. We were faced with two options: to change our training methods, or exclude black Africans from the parachuting role. Neither option was acceptable. We just had to bite the bullet and get on with the job to the best of our ability. It was not easy to accept, but there was no choice but to allow a lower standard, especially when this lower standard could mean a dead stop.

More and more Selous Scout courses were scheduled. Failure rates reduced as training techniques improved and bad techniques were ignored. But somehow, despite the increase in numbers, the problems with communication, and the necessity of turning a blind eye to exit errors, the injury rate did not increase. This was due to the professional abilities of the PJIs.