Squad; squad shun; shoulder arms; squad will move to the right in threes, right turn; quick march; squad will retire, right turn; squad will advance, about turn, squad halt; open order march; order arms; stand at ease. Along with slow march, change step, present arms, by the right – dress and so on.

Learn to strip, clean, assemble and fire your issue FN assault rifle, .38 revolver, 9mm pistol, sterling sub machine gun, uzi sub machine gun, greener shotgun, luigi franci self-loading shotgun.

Learn verbatim the definitions of common law offences. Understand what constitutes mens rea (intent) and the elements that make up a crime. Get an in depth knowledge of many of the Statute Laws. Learn how to take statements, warned and cautioned statements, write the wording for indictments and how to put a docket together.

In order to pass out (complete training) all recruits had to be able to accurately touch type 35 words per minute. This meant many lessons with the typing instructress Annie Lovel.

The equipment was old typewriters with all the keys painted out. Music was played to get everyone to type to a set rhythm while one tried not to hit multiple keys at the same time and have to clear the jamb.

Many of the recruits, even in the late 60’s came from Britian and in Annie’s office there was a small typewritten notice entitled ‘What is a Pommie’

Pommies are made up of four nationalities.
There are the Welsh who prey on their knees, and their neighbours.
The Scots who keep the Sabbath and anything else they can lay their hands on.
The Irish who don’t know what they want but are prepared to die fighting for it.
And the English who consider themselves self-made men, thereby relieving the almighty of an awful responsibility.

The BSAP and its forerunners were, to all intents and purposes, a Mounted Infantry Regiment. Horses were used extensively for patrolling until motor cycles and vehicles took over. However, As the BSAP was the senior service in Rhodesia, it provided the escorts for all state and ceremonial functions. As a result of this recruits learnt to ride and look after the horse the were allocated while in Depot.

The first major lesson, however, was getting one's puttees on correctly. This involved winding a length of khaki material round one's calves, starting a hand width below the knee and ending with the V shape at the other end exactly in the middle of the outside of the ankle. Apart from getting it positioned correctly it had to be tight enough not to unravel when riding but not so tight as to restrict circulation. This meant getting up at 4am to get this done until a week later it was second nature.

Next before the 6am parade, one's horse had to be immaculate. Not too much work if it had slept standing up, but a rush if it had slept lying down. Then polished saddle, bridle and reins to be correctly fitted.

The horses were all large, 15 hands plus, and each had its own character. Lessons included walk, trot, bump trot, canter, gallop, jump, ride in formation, canter in a figure of 8 and get the horse to change step so the outer foreleg led round the corners and so on. One of the joys was riding into the purple tunnel of the Avenues before any traffic had upset the carpet of jacaranda flowers on the roads.

Squads 1 and 2 from each year stayed on longer in order to be a major part of the Police Display in which horsemanship played a major part.

10 one hour lessons, better than nothing but woefully inadequate. However, the lecture on African customs was very useful.

A couple of lessons that certainly did not turn any of us into Bruce Lee.

Basic bush patrolling, food in ration packs, sleeping on the ground for a week, jungle lane – double tap instinctive firing with both eyes open. All a good introduction for what became much more serious as time went by.

After passing out of basic training in Depot, recruits spent 2 months in Driving School in Cranbourne, Salisbury. Here they were taught to drive Landrovers and ride motorcycles to a minimum standard equivalent to the British Advanced Motorist. This gave the recruit a Class 5 licence entitling them to drive normal Police vehicles. A class 3 or 4 was required for 'B' cars and a class 1 or 2 for Highway Patrol