June - Department of Defence

Children enjoyinga military campBy Lt Col Julanda Coetzee,Air Force OfficeMakhado Air Force Base(through the efforts of 515Squadron and associates)has hosted an Air Forcecamp for children withdisabilities for the pastseventeen years.The camp started with three childrenin 1987 and grew to 72 childrenin 2003, almost doubling the numberin 2004 with 140 children attending.The children included a wide spectrumof boys and girls representingall population groups of SouthAfrica.The idea of the camp was to createan environment for the childrento express their physical abilities andexperience the life of a "soldier".This year's camp was held from10 to 14 March 2004. The programmeincluded, among other things, a flipin an Oryx helicopter, military dril,morning "PT" sessions, adventureskills, musketry training, animal andnight sounds, bundle sport activitiesand self-defence.The camp culminated in a medalparade, where each learner received amedal, and recognition was givenin selected disciplines through theawarding of trophies. Teachers fromthe respective schools assistednineteen dedicated instructors andmembers from 515 Squadron, andthe results obtained by these specialchildren often amazed all involved.Feedback from teachers, who havebeen involved with the camp for upto ten years, included only successstories.A new attendee teacher remarkedthat the camp opened his eyes to acompletely new approach towardsthe children. He was amazed at thephysical strength the children displayedand that their involvementwith other children boosted theirself-esteem.The instructors taught the learnersto come to attention, to march out ofa squadron, to halt, to salute, toreceive a medal, to salute again andthen to march back to the squadron.For most of these children this wasmore consecutive action to rememberthan what they have ever beentaught, yet they achieved it withsuccess.What the exact recipe for thesuccess is, is still to be determined,but surely the team activity and thechanged attitudes of the instructorsplayed a role. Since the camp hasalways been directed towards the funand participation of the children, nospecialist psychological evaluation orobservations were obtained. It has,however, been suggested that a psychologistobserver be invited to thenext camp to provide some specialistChildren taking part in group sport.Receivinglearners’salutes ...advice on improving the learningopportunity for the children."In this Air Force where you areeither a 'Captain' (wearing gold rankinsignia) or a 'Sergeant' (wearing bluerank insignia) as the learners interpretthe ranks, I had the proud honour ofreceiving some of the learners' salutesand I have to confess, it made alasting impression in my life," saidLt Col Julanda Coetzee.A word of thanks is due to Lt ColJurie Davel, his team and everybodythat contributed to making these fewdays the tremendous success thatit was.Information regarding disabilitymatters in the SA Air Force may beobtained from the following offices:Air Force Office, Lt Col JulandaCoetzee, at tel no: (012) 312 1019; orAir Force Office, Capt Nosi Gcanga,at tel no: (012) 312 2421; or DisabilityEquity Section at the DOD, Mr KobusSwart, at tel no: (012) 355 5972.J U N E 2 0 0 4 • S A S O L D I E R27