Patrol In Longboats

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30880, 13 October 1965, Page 25

Patrol In Longboats

New Zealand combat soldiers are becoming expert sailors and airmen in Borneo. The lack of roads and tracks has meant that jungle soldiers of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment move by helicopters to an operational area or by one of the oldest transport means in Southeast Asia, by small water craft.

The soldiers are accustomed to charging at breakneck pace along the numerous rivers, dodging semi-hidden logs in native longboats powered by fast-rewing outboard motors deftly handled by skilful Borneo helmsmen. The photograph shows Corporal B. Overend (Christchurch) and Lance-Corporal P. Hetterley (Alexandra), loading a drum of much-needed fuel on one of the larger long boats. Only the lurking danger of Indonesian raiders hidden in the deep jungle cover can

spoil an almost carefree scene as the tiny craft move up the rivers. The sudden chatter of a hidden machine-gun sited in ambush positions instantly changes the situation to one of rapid defensive tactics—counter ambush tactics constantly practised by the New Zealanders. Men, supplies, ammunition, wirelesses, mail, medical stores, food and comforts travel the waterways in craft, ranging from hollowed-out logs to large canoes.

The ever-changing scenery offers much to the water traveller, if he has the time to notice it The New Zealanders, in true Borneo tradition, wave to the Iban natives as they skim through water, seeing brown-skinned men, women and children attending to their fishing nets, repairing their homes, washing clothes, playing or merely sunning themselves in the hot tropical sun.—(Army Information Service).