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VIDEO: Rhodesia

Yes, I know. More on Rhodesia.

It’s only because I wish I had not been born too late to enlist in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. However, be careful what you wish for, because I appear to be just in time to enlist in the Free American Light Infantry (FALI). Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Rhodesian/South African style farm burning, murder and rape, redistribution, courtesy not of a cross-border insurgency, but a Regime infiltrated to the core with Statist, redistribution, values.

If only it had been as relatively simple for us as it was for Rhodesia, with cross-border insurgency from communist camps in neighboring countries. For us, we will be torn apart from within, by our own government polices.

 

Live Hard.

Die Free.

Max

23 responses to “VIDEO: Rhodesia”

  1. Don’t forget the Free American Pioneers! (pun intended, also I’ve got a draft of that post you’ve asked me to do)

  3. I met a husband and wife in Germany in 1989 or 1990. They had a Mexican restaurant that I passed regularly in my travels. By the time I met them, Rhodesia had become Zimbabwe. They were very quick to say that they were Rhodesian when addressing their home country. I was moved by their allegiance to their country though they knew it no longer existed to most of the world.

    • Can’t imagine what it’s must be like to loss ones country. For the ancient Greeks their city, their Polis, was their country and they believed that a man without a Polis was like a leaf in the wind.

  5. I remember following what was going on in Rhodesia as a precocious tween.

    SOF was selling T shirts that said “Be a man among Men – Rhodesian Light Infantry”.
    While Mugabe was turning the country into a giant extermination camp mainstream media was silent and wedded to it’s flawed narrative.

    Same with the freedom fighter Dr Savimbi and UNITA in Angola fighting FAPLA.
    Except there the Christian Science Monitor ( which has since been bought out) broke ranks with the mainstream w/ hard information, as it often did in those days
    it was real interesting how FAPLAs Stalinists suddenly turned into “socialist moderates” in State Dept parlance lingo, as soon as Texaco (or was it Exxpon?) got an oil concession in the Cabinda strip.
    This blatant switch of propaganda with 1 week(!) in all Major US papers (taking the lead from the NYT) was eyeopening to me as a teenager. I had no illusions before but the brutal making-fun-of-your-readers 180 degree turn within one week destroyed any illusions.
    Suddenly there was no mention of FAPLA atrocities but journalists “discovered” UNITA atrocities instead..

    All within 1 week of signing the oil extraction agreement with FAPLA.

    Lets hope that many young men found their own “Angola moments” in the medias political coverage in recent years.

  6. Is there a SOP or TM available that pertains to their mounted cavalry? I would like to get my hands on one if there is. Please advise.

    • You could ask on the Grey’s Scouts facebook page if they have any manuals they managed to get out with them. As it is, I’ve yet to encounter a manual.

      From what I’ve been able to gather from extensive reading on them, they used the horses to patrol and when they came in to contact they used the horses to rush forward and close with the enemy and fight dismounted. Not having horses and weapons I have no idea how you’d even begin to train a platoon to do this unless you can find 30 men with their own horses, comfortable tack and suitable firearms.

  7. Hey Max and all,

    I’m new here but have been reading the blog for about a month now. The Rhodesian Bush war is one of my favorite mil history subjects.

    Another American who went to Rhodesia to fight and paid the ultimate sacrifice is John Coey. He was a medic in the RLI and was killed trying to save to comrades. He was KIA in 1975 and was from Columbus, Ohio.

    A great book on the RLI and their development of the “vertical envelopment” tactic is called “The Saints” edited by Chris Cocks. Chris was a stick leader in the RLI from 1978-1980.

  8. Max,

    I hope we fare better than the Rhodesians. I’m not sure there is any place to escape to, left.

  9. Really glad your here Max.
    We are all going to need each other serious as a heart attack before long.

  10. It’s been said that sometimes it doesn’t matter how clever, skilled or brave you are, sometimes the odds are just not in your favor and when it’s all said and done you’re the looser. The truly great military/political leaders throughout history have known whether or not they were fighting a losing war before the first operation kicked off. The question must then be raised if there is value in fighting a future “losing war”? To this I say yes, just as victory is never guaranteed, so too is defeat never assured. A great many things can happen between the first and last shots of a conflict, so many which are incalculable. This fact brings us back to the attribute that’s of greatest value in war, that of the will to fight. Each man must ask himself how fare are they willing to go? How hard are they willing to fight? Maybe most important of all, what are they willing to sacrifice? Personal suffering and death are nothing when compared to the suffering and death of those most dear to you or even just the possibility. The time may come when the capacity to fight still exists but the cost of fighting becomes too high for some. In such a war, prior to ever picking up a rifle, it’s necessary to have answered such questions. The failure to do so will make all prior preparations questionable because ones will is questionable and when faced with the realization of that “loosing war” they too will live on bended knee just so those they love may be able to live one second longer.

    If facing such a reality one should aspire to the values of warriors over those of soldiers. While both can possess the same degree of marshal prowess and bravery their levels of commitment are worlds apart. The solider needs to be motivated, namely by those things back home that their fighting for, but once the soldiers ability to protect those things comes into question surrender can become the logical choice. The warrior by comparison can continue to fight for no other reason than they said they would and their word existing as an absolute is the foundation of warriorship. The only way for a warrior to “lose everything” is for the certainty of their word to be lost. Such absolutism is considered to be illogical by contemporary standards because it’s lead to the total annihilation of societies. While such absolutism may in fact be illogical at least the warrior has never had to live on bended knee, a fate worse than death. So regardless of how a future war unfolds maybe the goal of victory is the wrong goal. Maybe the goal should be to never live on bended knee and this is a victory that has always been the sole possession of the warrior, for the warrior is the only one to seek it with the required absolutism.

    “Lo, there do I see my father. Lo, there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers. Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them. In the halls of Valhalla where the brave may live forever”.- Buliwyf

  12. On a related note, DS Arms make brand-new FAL rifles and 30-round mags for them. For those interested in kitting up like a Rhodie.

  13. In watching the videos above, it was noted that Israel was a materiel supporter of Rhodesia. Historically, long term conflicts inevitably require external materiel support, whether Soviet, U.S., Chinese, or other. What patronage can Freefor look for, and from whom? Are those connections being developed now?

    • R, The scenario could go at least two ways. Version one: insurgency/civil war/whatever breaks out in US. Other countries are too militarily weak to respond, and have too much debt and domestic issues to bother with taking sides in an American conflict.

      Version two: insurgency/civil war/whatever breaks out in US. Despite their issues, other countries have a vested interest in a free, economically strong, and stable USA. Because of this, these other countries give aid and MAYBE some advisors/spec ops to Freefor. The only certainty is that a civil war in North America would raise a LOT more attention than Syria, Libya, and the Balkans combined!

  14. Tactical Training by Max Velocity | VIDEO: Rhodesia – Tactical Training by Max Velocity