Foreign volunteers in the Rhodesian Security Forces

The issue attracted a degree of controversy as Rhodesia was the subject of international sanctions that banned military assistance due to its illegal declaration of independence and the control which the small white minority exerted over the country.

This party was deeply committed to maintaining the white minority's privileged status, and this motivated a decision to declare independence from the United Kingdom rather than submit to a transition to majority rule.

Britain and the United Nations Security Council imposed wide-ranging trade and other sanctions on Rhodesia with the objective of forcing it to return to its previous status.

[13] The academic Michael Evans wrote in 2007 that "the Front's world-struggle ideology was based on a conspiratorial interpretation of modern politics that emphasised virulent forms of Anglophobia,[a] anti-communism, anti-internationalism, and anti-liberalism".

Maintaining a large flow of migrants was considered necessary to sustain the white minority's confidence in the future of Rhodesia given the challenges the regime faced from African nationalism.

The Rhodesians' counterinsurgency tactics involved coercing the black population, including through arbitrary arrests and the use of military force against civilians, rather than winning their 'hearts and minds'.

The Rhodesian government's racial policies were perceived by many Western conservatives to be a form of well-meaning paternalism and meritocracy, and considered more acceptable than the apartheid system in South Africa.

[34] The Army's regular units, which were manned mainly by white soldiers who had volunteered or been conscripted and were liable for full-time service, were the most powerful element of the security forces.

[34] The number of white conscripts in the security forces was also increased by considerably expanding the age groups of men who were required to serve and the periods of active duty reservists needed to undertake.

These letters were closely scrutinised, as many of the men who had written them were considered "obviously nuts" by the Rhodesian Army's recruitment officer Major Nick Lamprecht.

[54] News reports in the mid to late 1970s alleged that several individuals sought to recruit volunteers for Rhodesia in the United Kingdom and Europe, including by placing advertisements in newspapers and writing to former British military personnel.

The academic historian Luise White wrote in 2004 that the volunteers were commonly opposed to the establishment of governments run by black people and did not have any particular commitment to Rhodesia itself.

[59] Kyle Burke noted in 2018 that American volunteers were at least partially motivated by racist and paternalistic views; some stated that sustaining white rule would lead to better outcomes for Rhodesia's black population.

[80] Foreign volunteers who were accepted were required to swear an oath of loyalty to Rhodesia, and the Rhodesian government considered them to be members of the security forces rather than mercenaries.

[101] American and Australian volunteers who had fought in the Vietnam War were generally well regarded by Rhodesian soldiers, and were often posted to the elite SAS and Selous Scouts.

[105] Rhodesia attempted to counter the "mercenary" claim by processing the volunteers through the Department of Immigration and framing them as prospective Rhodesian citizens, though few ever applied for citizenship.

Margaret Thatcher and several other prominent Conservative politicians had reservations about legislation that was proposed in 1976 to ban mercenary activity on the grounds that it could prohibit British citizens from fighting for worthy causes.

[116] In 1977 the British government provided a lukewarm response to an American proposal that the United Nations Security Council adopt a resolution requiring UN members to prevent their citizens from serving in the Rhodesian military.

[118] Hugh Pattenden notes that although there was considerable support among British conservatives for Rhodesia, the relatively small numbers of volunteers from the country indicates that "very few men were actually willing to put their futures on the line for the Smith regime".

There is evidence that the Departments of Justice and State tacitly encouraged Americans to volunteer for Rhodesia as part of efforts to prevent the country collapsing before a negotiated solution to the war could be finalised.

[123] Many of the American volunteers in Rhodesia wrongly believed that their government opposed their presence in the country; articles in Soldier of Fortune and works by the author Robin Moore also claimed this.

[77] The difficult conditions in the security forces due to the war contributed to this; in 1979 a Soldier of Fortune writer claimed that approximately 80 per cent of the Americans who had volunteered for Rhodesia over the previous two years had deserted after finding the "routine too rough".

[128] Pattenden has observed that desertion was the most obvious downside the Rhodesian government faced from recruiting foreign volunteers, as they had "less stake in the future of Rhodesia than local whites".

[34] Many of the foreign volunteers opposed the March 1978 Internal Settlement, under which the white Rhodesian government agreed to cede power to moderate black leaders.

[129] On 21 December that year the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 460 that, among other things, called for the British authorities to expel all "mercenaries" and South African forces from Southern Rhodesia.

Soldier of Fortune regularly covered foreigners in the Rhodesian Security Forces during the Bush War; each edition published between 1975 and 1980 included at least one article on the subject.

Soldier of Fortune's coverage reflected Rhodesian government propaganda, as its authors claimed that the country was a Western democracy and the war was being fought against communism.

[135] Robin Moore included profiles of twelve volunteers as part of a non-fiction book he wrote in 1976 that argued that the Rhodesian government was not racist and sanctions against it should be lifted.

They observed that the volunteers "failed in their efforts to protect the white regime, but not before they supported and contributed to a conflict that lasted fifteen years and claimed tens of thousands of lives".

[76] The academic Kyle Burke has also written that some anti-government paramilitary forces in the United States draw inspiration from the volunteers, and cite them as an example when encouraging violence against African Americans.