THE RECCE COLLECTIONS

As an active fighting force the men of the South-African Special Forces all see active duty and as soldiers their life’s flavour get dictated by what they experience in their extreme moments as soldiers. The recollections project is a continuous project in which we assist and support our members to share their memories in their own words and in their own context. We recognize and value the fact that every person lives and experiences life from behind their own sights and recalls it from that point of view. Recalling the past is thus a private affair that has specific relevance to the person that recalls the moment, incident, operation or period.

Many of our members are in the phase of life where their memories lose their sharpness and the vividness of the memories that were forged in battle drifts further and further. Most of the members have a story to tell, a moment to relive, or a lesson learnt to share but like most of us they find it hard to sit and write. With recollections we help the members pen these moments. The Recollections project collects contributions or submissions in all formats,
– Written work. ( 1- 20 pages )
– Short audio recording. ( 3 – 5 minutes)
– Short video. ( 3 – 5 minutes)

On receipt the written work is put through a quick editorial review and then submitted into the collections. When it is placed into storage the submission is tagged with the relevant metadata (Eg. author, place, time, etc) so it is easy to retrieve via the recollections web-portal. This methodology allows all members to recall their experiences and store these and it is easy to search and share them. We agree with Guy de Maupassant that said in the 19th century “….You’ve never lived until you’ve almost died. For those who have fought for it, life has a flavour the protected shall never know..”

If you wish to add your recollections please click on the link below for the format.