The quote, by Moira de Swardt, emphasises the psychological damage inflicted by war, not only upon the soldiers, but also the civilians connected to the soldiers and anyone who is human enough to care. The South African Border War left psychological wounds on soldiers which could never be repaired and metaphorical scars on those who watched their loved ones suffer, unfortunately in vain for an ideological warfare crafted by a corrupt government. In the play ‘Somewhere on the Border’, by Anthony Akerman, one can witness the psychological damage as a result of war by analysing the characters Bombardier Kotze, Doug Campbell, David Levitt, Paul Marais, Hennie Badenhorst and Trevor Mowbray.
The character Bombardier Kotze possess military authority throughout the play as he has been in the army for fifteen years. Kotze has forgotten what it is like to be a civilian, “Because I hate civilians” (51), due to living the armies way of life for so long. Through his authority, Kotze inflicts psychological damage onto the young soldiers, by creating a
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Once at the military barracks he is still determined to not lose himself and his morals and therefore is often getting himself and the other young soldiers into trouble, “Kammel wants you to run round the shithouse” (40). Kotze slowly but surely breaks Campbell down until his only instinct is to survive and get out of this war alive, “within myself I’ve got principles… but like here we’ve just got to survive” (61). Campbell by the end of the play is so psychologically damaged by the war and the military training that eventually he betrays himself and shoots the already injured Black