Rhodesian Army & Special Forces Diving Insignia?

[sailorbear]

Hi, Can anyone tell me if any units in the Rhodesian army had any diving capability and if so did they have any particular diver trade/qualification insignia?

Regards

Tony

[rhodesianmilitaria]

I'd say no as Rhodesia was landlocked. There was certainly no insignia. However I stand to be corrected.

[sailorbear]

Originally Posted by rhodesianmilitaria

I'd say no as Rhodesia was landlocked. There was certainly no insignia. However I stand to be corrected.

Hi, I considered that Rhodesia is landlocked but then there are some pretty hoofing big lakes around that part of Africa too! When it comes to Army Engineer Divers their main role is river crossings of which there's quite a few largish one in Africa too, So wondered if the Rhodesian Army would have that capability?

Regards Tony

[rhodesianmilitaria]

As I said, not that I know of. There certainly wasn't any insignia for that role. However there are members of this forum that served there that may know differently.

[Flatdog]

Hi,

Rhodesian SAS trained for diving along with South Africans in the special forces role. BSAP had a detachment for recovery of bodies / evidence collection etc. Rhodesian Corps of Engineers for bridge inspections/ bridging operations. The RLI had a sub-aqua club and I'm sure many other units did as well. But I've never seen a specific divers badge. If any used one it would be
Engineers as a trade badge, and likely look exactly like the British Army version. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Clay

[sailorbear]

Hi, thanks that's great! I had found a reference to divers on a Rhodesian Corps of Engineers website where it says they had a boat troop with "limited diving capability". But the question as to whether any trade badge actually existed still remains unanswered! Quite possibly there never was one, but in most of the worlds military forces, Diving qualifications seem to be held in the same high regard as Commando and Parachutist qualifications, and few have no actual qualification insignia ,so find it unusual that Rhodesia, who in line with other nations (and in particular the UK, USA and South Africa) had a whole host of qualification badges for various trades/skills, wouldn't have had one for diving?

Regards Tony

[ruwa]

Clay is 100% right that the Rhodesian SAS had selected members train in SA (Simonstown) as divers. No badge or insignia was worn though.

Dave

[Flatdog]

Tony,

I was thinking also that even if no actual diving badge was issued, the RhSAS members who pased through SA Naval Clearance Diver course would have been awarded the SAN Divers badge, just as those who went through para course would earn SA para wings. Authorisation to wear was another matter entirely. I've never seen any SA badges worn by Rhodesian forces on greens. Just something to ponder.

Clay

[sailorbear]

Originally Posted by Flatdog

Tony,

I was thinking also that even if no actual diving badge was issued, the RhSAS members who pased through SA Naval Clearance Diver course would have been awarded the SAN Divers badge, just as those who went through para course would earn SA para wings. Authorisation to wear was another matter entirely. I've never seen any SA badges worn by Rhodesian forces on greens. Just something to ponder.

Clay

Hi, I was thinking pretty much the same thing, but until/If a picture or someone with first hand experience comes to light to confirm it, I think its something we'll never know for sure?

Regards Tony

[chingola]

The Rhodesian SAS men who were diver trained by the SA Navy were given SAS diving log books.. These blue hard cover books were same size and design as those they had for their para jumps but worded Record of Diving ..... below the SAS badge..I have a photo somewhere of this book.. They also had group photos taken in Simonstown wearing their frog suits with the SAN instructors and OC.. Never seen a badge worn though for diving proficiency..

[mutehill]

Originally Posted by sailorbear

Hi, Can anyone tell me if any units in the Rhodesian army had any diving capability and if so did they have any particular diver trade/qualification insignia?

Regards

Tony

Hi Tony,
I was an instructor in the SA NAVY in the 1970's,we had regular ranks from the Rhodesian Forces in Simonstown to qualify in diving and Gemini driving and maintenance.They stayed at the Glencairn Hotel in Glencairn with no visable means of identification (uniform wise) and after training were awarded a diving logbook. As far as I know they wore no diving badge .The qualification was clearance diver.

[natal01]

A few months ago I bought some odds and ends from an ex member of the Rhodesian SAS who was dive qualified. Among his cloth badges were two unused US dive patches. When asked he was rather vague about where he had acquired them, but confirmed that he had never had any dive badges of his own while with the Rhodesian forces. I chatted to another Rhodesian SAS officer about divers and he confirmed that while elements of the BSAP and SAS received dive training, there were no Rhodesian dive badges. So if some entrepreneurial type decides to produce a genuine rhodesian SAS attack diver patch for sale on the internet, be careful !

[peter monahan]

"Scuba diving, a sport where the main object is to stay alive!", to quote Jerry Sienfeld. I can easily imagine that dive qualifications are prized up there with jumpr wings and commando training. I can almost imagine m,yself leaping out of a fully functional aircraft, but going into deep, dark water inhabited by large aggresive animals, while looking for explosive devices and /or corpses? No!
Also easy to see why the unscrupulous would see the temptation to create badges for same.

[Madziro]

This is an interesting topic and I agree that the Rhodesian army did not have a diver qualification badge but did have qualified divers as stated in previous posts.

Some thing that may be of interest is that the Botswana army do have qualified divers and they do have a badge. As a member of the SA Army I did an exercise with them on the Okavango Delta. Attached photos may be of interest.

[Rhodesian Badges]

Here is a spanner in the works. Army Diving School, Kariba. Zimbabwe Army. Reunion Badge.