When volunteers arrived at Wafa Wafa, the Selous Scouts' training camp, they were given a taste of the hardships they would have to endure. On reaching the base (which was a 25 km. run away from the drop-off point) they saw only a few straw huts and the blackened embers of a dying fire.
There was no food issued. The objective of the training at this point was to narrow the list of potential recruits by starving, exhausting and antagonizing them. This was successful, with 40 or 50 men out of 60 usually dropping out within the first two days of training.
The selection course had a total duration of 17 days. From dawn to 7 am recruits were put through a strength-sapping fitness programme. After they had completed this, they trained in basic combat skills. They were also required to traverse a particularly nasty assault course several times in the course of the training program. The course was designed to overcome their fear of heights.
When darkness fell, they began night training. In the first five days of the course, no food was issued, while for the rest of the period only rotten animals were allowed. At the end of training, they had to carry out an endurance march of 100 km. Each volunteer was laden with 30 kg. of rocks in his packs. These rocks were painted red, to ensure that they could not be discharged and replaced at the end.
The final stage of this march was a speed march, and had to be completed in two-and-a-half hours. For those who survived these days there was a week of leave; they were then taken to a special camp for the dark phase of their training. At this camp, they learned pseudo tactics where recruits were taught to blend in and infiltrate enemy ranks. Tactics such as using clothing impregnated with parathion and left for enemy guerrillas to find or cigarettes and canned food contaminated with thallium. Upon completion, the recruits were in the field on patrol with the Selous Scouts only a week after.
The regiment achieved many of its objectives; its members were acclaimed trackers, and the unit was responsible for 68% of all guerrilla deaths within the borders of Rhodesia. #scouts #rhodie