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DAY ONE AND THE FIRST SIX WEEKS
99
SEVEN
Beach Road Camp to which the first intake for the officer training course in the yet-to-be-named SAFTI gathered
on 1
st
June, 1966. A view of Beach Road as it was on that day and before the reclamation. The Drill Hall of the
SVC is the double storey building in the centre foreground.
enlistee remembers how, on seeing a ‘handsome’ individual in uniform, he decided that he
must be an officer, an indication not only of serious personal prejudices but also of the
ignorance of the trappings of authority on military uniforms that generally prevails to this
day, because Michael Seth would have been wearing his Captain’s insignia on his epaulettes.
It seemed as though, recognising that military punctuality was expected of them, nearly all
the selected enlistees turned up on time and a roll-call was made. Responses varied with each
enlistee’s view of what was expected in the military, but all were sufficiently intimidated by
the uniformed personnel and anxious to please. Yet, many of them also had a sense that they
were destined for higher things and were only playing the part presently expected of them
as trainee officers. Inevitably, those who were from the full-time or volunteer service tended
to demonstrate their familiarity with the organisation in the promptitude and smartness of
their responses and no doubt saw themselves as having a competitive edge over the raw
civilians. But as nothing more was asked of anybody, other than to get into various vehicles
drawn up in the parade square below in batches according to a further roll-call, the issue was
soon dismissed by the rest.
The majority of the enlistees were briefed that they would be transported to a camp, where
they would be confined for the first six weeks of training. Though both the location and
the confinement were news to them, there were no provisions for each enlistee to inform