Gunship Over Angola

Author : Steve Joubert
Publisher : Jonathan Ball Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1868429318
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gunship Over Angola written by Steve Joubert and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up in suburban Pretoria, Steve Joubert dreamed of a career as a pilot. After undergoing SAAF pilot training, a freak injury put an end to his hopes of flying fighter jets. Instead he learned to fly the versatile Alouette helicopter. He had barely qualified as a chopper pilot when he was sent to the Border, where he flew missions over Namibia and southern Angola to supply air cover to troops on the ground. As a gunship pilot, Steve saw some of the worst scenes of war, often arriving first on the scene after a contact or landmine attack. He also recalls the lighter moments of military life, as well as the thrill of flying. A born maverick, his lack of respect for authority often got him into trouble with his superiors. His experiences affected him deeply, and led him eventually to question his role in the war effort. As the Border War escalated, his disillusionment grew. This gripping memoir is a powerful plea for healing and understanding.

Author : Al J. Venter
Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 1612000827
Total Pages : 563 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Gunship Ace written by Al J. Venter and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Spotlights the career of a fascinating modern warrior, while also shedding light on some of the conflicts that have raged throughout the world” (Tucson Citizen). A former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s on, Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he fought in the Balkan war for the Islamic forces, tried to resuscitate Mobutu’s ailing air force during his final days ruling the Congo, flew Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and piloted an Mi-8 fondly dubbed “Bokkie” for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. Finally, with a pair of aging Mi-24 Hinds, Ellis ran the Air Wing out of Aberdeen Barracks in the war against Sankoh’s vicious RUF rebels. As a “civilian contractor,” Ellis has also flown helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he had more close shaves than in his entire previous four decades. From single-handedly turning the enemy back from the gates of Freetown to helping rescue eleven British soldiers who’d been taken hostage, Ellis’s many missions earned him a price on his head, with reports of a million-dollar dead-or-alive reward. This book describes the full career of this storied aerial warrior, from the bush and jungles of Africa to the forests of the Balkans and the merciless mountains of Afghanistan. Along the way the reader encounters a multiethnic array of enemies ranging from ideological to cold-blooded to pure evil, as well as examples of incredible heroism for hire.

Author : Johann M B Eloff Sr
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1664101705
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Moving On written by Johann M B Eloff Sr and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author shared the step-by-step development of Narrative Care as a therapeutic approach to Christian counselling. Narrative Care embraces sound neurobiological, neuropsychotherapeutic, and biblical principles. Narrative Care is a user-friendly approach that is serious about helping others move on from chronic stress to sustainable resilience. Chronic Stress became one of the most disruptive influences in our society. Chronic stress causes, prolongs, aggravates issues with, amongst others, thyroid-function, menstruation, weight, cholesterol, ulcers, irritable bowel, asthma, eczema, allergies, arthritis, immune function, migraine, impotence, sexual-functioning, insomnia, addictions, heart-function, blood pressure and clots, tumours, cancer, type 2 diabetes, concentration, memory, anxiety, depression, anger, aggression. We can break through the devastating cruel prison of chronic stress. If you are the one searching for help, or you are a counsellor, friend, or family member from whom a loved one seeks help, then this book is for you!

Author : Al J. Venter
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781909982680
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Chopper Boys written by Al J. Venter and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A retrospective view of the role played by helicopters in some of Africa's conflicts in the past, with six new chapters on more recent developments on the world's most volatile continent.

Author : neil Reynolds
Publisher : Jonathan Ball Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1868428575
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book In Kill Zone written by neil Reynolds and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2018-06-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Neil Reynolds was first asked in 2003 whether he'd like to work in Iraq as a private military contractor, he didn't even know where it was on the map. But he would soon learn the ins and outs of working and surviving in one of the world's most violent conflict zones. Reynolds was part of one of the first groups of South Africans to start private military security companies in Iraq. His refreshingly honest account tells of all the numerous challenges they faced: from finding a safe hotel in Baghdad to being forced to buy guns on the black market and dodging bullets on several hair-raising protection missions. He describes their successful low profile strategy where they tried to blend in with the local Iraqis in their choice of vehicles and clothing. Reynolds also tells the tragic story of his four South African colleagues who were kidnapped and killed in Baghdad in 2006. His candid observations and dry humour offers a unique perspective on the harsh realities of the life of a private military contractor.

Author : Al J. Venter
Publisher : Helion and Company
ISBN 13 : 191311810X
Total Pages : 564 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Battle For Angola written by Al J. Venter and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the publication of Al Venter’s successful Portugal’s Guerrilla Wars in Africa - shortlisted by the New York Military Affairs Symposium’s 'Arthur Goodzeit Book Award for 2013' - his Battle for Angola delves still further into the troubled history of this former Portuguese African colony. This is a completely fresh work running to almost 600 pages including 32 pages of color photos, with the main thrust on events before and after the civil war that followed Lisbon’s over-hasty departure back to the metrópole. There are also several sections that detail the role of South African mercenaries in defeating the rebel leader Dr Jonas Savimbi (considered by some as the most accomplished guerrilla leader to emerge in Africa in the past century). There are many chapters that deal with Pretoria’s reaction to the deteriorating political and military situation in Angola, the role of the Soviets and mercenaries in the political transition, as well as the civil war that followed. With the assistance of several notable military authorities he elaborates in considerable detail on South Africa’s 23-year Border War, from the first guerrilla incursions to the last. In this regard he received solid help from the former the head of 4 Reconnaissance Regiment, Colonel Douw Steyn, who details several cross-border Recce strikes, including the sinking by frogmen of two Soviet ships and a Cuban freighter in an Angolan deepwater port. Throughout, the author was helped by a variety of notable authorities, including the French historian Dr René Pélissier and the American academic and former naval aviator Dr John (Jack) Cann. With their assistance, he covers several ancillary uprisings and invasions, including the Herero revolt of the early 20th century; the equally troubled Ovambo insurrection, as well as the invasion of Angola by the Imperial German Army in the First World War. Former deputy head of the South African Army Major General Roland de Vries played a seminal role. It was he - dubbed ‘South Africa’s Rommel’ by his fellow commanders - who successfully nurtured the concept of ‘mobile warfare’ where, in a succession of armored onslaughts ‘thin-skinned’ Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles tackled Soviet main battle tanks and thrashed them. There is a major section on South African Airborne – the ‘Parabats’ –by Brigadier-General McGill Alexander, one of the architects of that kind of warfare under Third World conditions. Finally, the role of Cuban Revolutionary Army receives the attention it deserves: officially there were almost 50,000 Cuban troops deployed in the Angolan war, though subsequent disclosures in Havana suggest that the final total was much higher.

Author : Peter Polack
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1612001955
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War written by Peter Polack and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of collapse during the late 1980s, and America prepared to claim its victory, a bloody war still raged in Southern Africa, where proxy forces from both sides vied for control of Angola. The result was the largest battle on the dark continent since Al Alamein, with forces from both sides paying in blood what U.S.-Soviet diplomats were otherwise spending in diplomacy. The socialist government of Angola and its army, FAPLA, fully stocked with Soviet weapons, had only to wipe out a massive resistance group, UNITA, secretly supplied by the U.S, in order to claim full sovereignty over the country. A giant FAPLA offensive so threatened to succeed in overcoming UNITA that apartheid-era South Africa stepped in to protect its own interests. The white army crossing the border prompted the Angolan government to call on their own foreign reinforcementsÑthe army of Communist CubaÕs. Thus began the epic battle of Cuito Cuanavale, largely unknown in the U.S., but which raged for three months in the entirely odd match-up of South African Boers vs. CastroÕs armed forces, which for the first time in the Cold War proved what it could achieve. And it turned out the Cubans were very good. The South Africans were no slouches at warfare themselves, but had suffered under a boycott of weapons since 1977. The Cubans and Angolan troops, instead, had the latest Soviet weapons, easily delivered. But UNITA had its secret U.S. supply line and the South Africans knew how to fight, mainly at a disadvantage in air power for lack of spare parts. Meantime the Cubans overcame their logistic difficulties with an impressive airlift of troops over the Atlantic, while the Boers simply needed to drive next door. As a case study of ferocious fighting between East and WestÑalbeit proxies for the great powers on all sidesÑthis book unveils a remarkable episode of the end-game of the Cold War largely unknown to the public. The Angolans on both sides suffered heavily, but it was the apartheid South Africans versus CastroÕs armed forces that provides utter fascination in one of historyÕs rare match-ups.

Author : Carl Alberts
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781910777008
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Chopper Down! written by Carl Alberts and published by . This book was released on 2015-09-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After twenty years of armed conflict in Angola and political instability in coup-ridden Sierra Leone going back to 1991, private corporate financial interests became the catalyst that spawned the creation of possibly the most successful private military corporation to date: Executive Outcomes (EO). With its initial task of securing Angolan government control in the Soyo oil-producing region, prompted by private oil interests, EO subsequently became involved in the war against UNITA throughout the country. With little more that 100 of its own combat personnel on the ground in both the wars in Angola and Sierra Leone, the outstanding success that EO achieved was in no small part due to the force-multiplying effect and support given by its helicopter and jet pilots of the Air Wing. This is the true story of the frustrations, personal sacrifices and too often the extreme risks that the aircrews took while flying in support of the ground offensives. Most of this was achieved with outdated equipment and aircraft that were seldom airworthy. Living under harsh conditions with the ever-present threat of enemy attack, as well as great risk from their ill-disciplined allies, the contribution these aircrews made to the overall success of the war effort was extensive. Although EO costs were but a small fraction of the replacement United Nations forces, which were generally unsuccessful, international pressure to leave prematurely, led to renewed regional conflict with great loss of life. The author describes the realities of 'postwar syndrome', his subsequent failed business venture in Liberia and his involvement in the conflict in the Ivory Coast that brought about his arrest in South Africa for mercenary-related activities.

Author : Gennadiĭ Vladimirovich Shubin
Publisher : Jacana Media
ISBN 13 : 1431401854
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bush War: The Road to Cuito Cuanavale written by Gennadiĭ Vladimirovich Shubin and published by Jacana Media. This book was released on 2011 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For almost 15 years, South Africa was involved in a civil war in Angola: the so-called Bush War on behalf of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola faction. The climax of the conflict portrayed in this history was the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the largest military engagement on African soil since World War II. This book provides the firsthand, personal accounts of the clash leading up to Cuito Cuanavale for the first time in English, as told by the Soviet advisers to the Angolan army. Their experiences of the war as well as their views and assessment of their South African enemies and Cuban and Angolan allies will not only surprise and fascinate readers, but will also offer new insights into the war itself.

Author : Al J. Venter
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1526728745
Total Pages : 181 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb written by Al J. Venter and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-05-30 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere the majority linked to al Qaeda are in the news on an almost daily basis. But very little surfaces about a festering insurgency that has been on the go for six years in West Africa under the acronym of AQIM, or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This low-level series of guerrilla conflicts is widespread and sporadic, covering an area as vast as Europe. Nigeria has been drawn into the equation because its Boko Haram insurgent faction maintains close ties with AQIM and Islamic State.For now though, the focus is on Mali where several jihadist groups despite formal peace agreements remain active. Involved is the French army and air force as well as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) as well as the European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP).The insurrection that fostered all this broke out early 2012 when President Franois Hollande announced the beginning of Operation Serval. Five hours later the first squadrons of French Gazelle helicopter gunships began attacking Islamist columns. A day later French fighter jets based in Chad, almost 2,000 kilometers away, were making sorties against rebel ground targets in northern Mali.