7 SAI OPS MEDIC

Simon Lewis

There is more to come - I understand - but here's a story from 7 SAI to get started with:

AH the Rooikat or Caracal

How many of the 7SAI bods remember our unit mascots?

As far as mascots go they were a bit useless. One thing you would never see was the cat marching at the head of the unit. Generally the handler had to carry the damn thing.

Come one day when the cat they used most commonly developed epilepsy. The handler didn't know what hit him but all of a sudden the cat would freak out and attack the nearest thing around. Generally it was him. At one point he was charged for kicking the cat in the head. He had some nasty scars.

This went on until one day when the cat went missing in the 7SAI training area. The whole unit was sent out to find the cat with our rifles with no ammo (logical hey). Anyway the cat was found and what follows was the perfect example of poetic justice I've seen.

As the cats were generally kept by the RPs and their cages were next to the RP station they took this cat there. At the time it was relaxed but once they got it into the RP station it took a turn. Somebody managed to get a blanket over it and headed for the nearest room with a door on it and threw the cat in and closed the door.

It was the showers and at the time it was full of naked "ratpacks". The fastest things in Palagat that year were the RPs that exited the shower. Hoedspruit probably picked them up on radar.

Simon Wed, 19 Jul 2000


Published: 23 July 2000.

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