This image is the cover for the book Recce

Recce

A gripping firsthand account of life and combat operations in the elite South African Special Forces, known as Recces, by a veteran Recce officer.

The South African Special Forces are one of the most effective—and mysterious—military units in the world. Working in secret on covert operations, the legendary Recces have long fascinated, but little is known about how they operate. Now Koos Stadler, a career officer in the South African Special Forces, shares a revealing chronicle of his life and his experiences in the Border War.

Shortly after passing the grueling Special Forces selection course in the early 1980s, Koos Stadler joined the so-called Small Teams group at 5 Reconnaissance Regiment. This sub-unit was made up of two-man teams and was responsible for many secret missions behind enemy lines. Sent to blow up railway lines and enemy fighter jets in south Angola, Stadler and his partner stared death in the face many times.

Koos Stadler

Koos Stadler has been a career officer in the South African National Defence Force for more than 30 years. Twenty-four of these he served in the elite South African Special Forces, better known as the “Recces” - spending 10 years in active service during the long drawn-out guerilla war against the then South West Africa Peoples’ Organisation (SWAPO) on the border between Namibia and Angola. Stadler conducted many exceptionally sensitive missions, often facing extreme conditions of hunger, thirst, loneliness and danger. Fear was a constant companion and Stadler does not shy away from acknowledging this and sharing his innermost thoughts in the pages of Recce. He ended his career on a high note during a 4-year tenure as Defence Attaché to Saudi Arabia where he spent much of his time exploring the desert. During a 200 km solo hike through the Empty Quarter, one of the most barren stretches of sand on earth, he relived his small teams experiences and in his own words “buried the last of his fears in the sand”.

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