ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the experiences of select South African Defence Force veterans who returned to Angola, where they had fought during the late 1970s and 1980s. It interrogates the narratives constructed by two such veterans, both of whom published accounts that trace their journeys to battle sites and former bases. The party followed a set routine that included morning prayers and inspirational messages. They engaged in plenty of pranks that rekindled memories of male bonding in their previous lives in the army. The dwelling on maudlin memories, though, has the tendency to efface the violence that makes perpetrators and victims out of soldiers. The war-torn country of Angola has endured more than 40 years of intermittent fighting. The inclusion of an Angolan battle in a book dedicated to South African sites recognizes the growing fascination with the "Border War" among the South African reading public. In many respects, the veterans' experience of military life prepared them for trip into Angola.
