Katima

After moving from one slum living condition to another and attending nineteen different schools as a youngster, author Jeff M. Maritz received a gift from the heavens. At age seventeen, he was ordered to report for duty in the African Armys armored division on January 7, 1974. It provided an opportunity to escape a hellish childhood and family situation and an opportunity to experience his majestic Africa. In Katima, he offers a first-person look inside army life in South Africa, examining the challenges and rewards of life in the military there. After Maritz completed basic training, he became a Panzer-vehicle gunner. In the mid-seventies, the central part of Africa was in turmoil, and Angola was close to civil war. He was called up two times to serve in the South African forces, protecting the grand African folk of Southwest Africa, now known as Namibia. Sharing experiences that changed his life forever, including a close encounter with death, Maritz describes the magical moments throughout his journey in Katima Malilu, Caprivi Strip, Angola, and beyond.