1990 WAS the year I matriculated with a university-entrance matric and was named Despatch High’s Rugby Player of the Year. I decided to go into the army the following year. In those days, all white males over the age of 18 were conscripted to do compulsory service in the South African Defence Force for a year. It had previously been a two-year call-up but had now been reduced.
I wanted to follow the family tradition and become a teacher, specialising in physical education. But we didn’t have the money for university and I couldn’t get a sports bursary, even though I had played Craven Week rugby. The only option I had was to do my national service or go to jail, but no one in Despatch ever defied their call-up.
I was called up to the 6 South African Infantry battalion in Grahamstown, where I could be selected for the Junior Leader training programme (JLs) at the Infantry School in Oudtshoorn. I was very nervous about going – not
