About BoonDock

BoonDock
— Wikipedian ♂ —
Name	John
Born	November 13, 1966 (age 58); Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Current location	Pedasí, Los Santos, Panama
Family and friends
Marital status	Married
Interests
	Wikipedia; Facebook;
Userboxes
Wikipedia:Babel
en	This user is a native speaker of the English language.
en-5	This user can contribute with a professional level of English.
en-ZA	Ja mun, this user kin spieck Sous African English, hey.
af-3	Hierdie gebruiker het 'n uitstekende begrip van Afrikaans.
	Search user languages
	This user's time zone is GMT-5 .
	This user is a member of the; African military history task force of WikiProject Military history.
	This user is a participant in; WikiProject Orders, decorations, and medals.
	This user participates in; WikiProject Citation cleanup.
	This user is a proud resident native citizen of South Africa.
	This user is a; White South African.
	This user lives in Durban.
	This user comes from; South Africa.
	This user lives in Panamá.
	This user has created a global account.
	This user tries to do the right thing. If he makes a mistake, please let him know.
	This user assumes good faith.
	This user has been on Wikipedia for 19 years, 5 months and 30 days.
	This user has been awarded the Pro Patria Medal (South Africa).

Who am I

I am a South African who has a passion for my country. I am mostly interested in the Military in the Wikipedia.
I am a Reserve Force Officer

Service

As a disclosure about vested interests, I have served in or with, or been attached to, the following units or formations over the past thirty years:
- 5 South African Infantry Battalion (National Service & Border Duty)
- 1 Recce (Selection)
- Natal Carbineers
- Cape Town Highlanders
- Durban Light Infantry
- 19 Field Engineer Regiment SAEC
- Natal Field Artillery
- United Nations Force Intervention Brigade This included 6 South African Infantry Battalion, 1 Parachute Battalion and 5 Special Forces Regiment (South Africa)
I have also had close association with a number of other units, specifically Umvoti Mounted Rifles, Natal Mounted Rifles and 84 Signals Unit

Awards

Postnominals: RD

I have been awarded:

Pro Patria Medal
General Service Medal (South Africa)
Unitas (Unity) Medal
John Chard Medal
Medal Ribbon for Loyal Service - with RD device (Reserve Distinction) (RD)
United Nations Medal (MONUSCO - DRC (Numeral 2))

Proficiency badges

Badge for Reserve Voluntary Service
(Service Award)

Five Years Voluntary Service Black on Thatch beige, Embossed

1st Class Shot – Rifle
(Proficiency)

1^st Class Marksman Black on Thatch beige, Embossed Black (Black rifle), with a black rectangle surrounding the rifle

Demolitions
(Qualification)

Level 1 (DEMS1) Black on Thatch beige, Embossed The badge uses the traditional 9 flames exploding grenade which is superimposed over one lightning bolt diagonally (top right to bottom left) across the exploding grenade

I have been cited for, but not yet awarded:

Medalje vir Troue Diens (Medal for Loyal Service) (20 Year Clasp)
Medalje vir Troue Diens (Medal for Loyal Service) (30 Year Clasp)
iPhrothiya yeBhronzi (Bronze Protea) (PB)
Nkwe ya Boronse (Bronze Leopard) (NB)
Tshumelo Ikatelaho (General Service Medal)

with Tshumelo Ikatelaho (General Service Medal) (Humanitarian Aid clasp) and either the Tshumelo Ikatelaho (General Service Medal) (Peace Support clasp) or a possible new clasp Tshumelo Ikatelaho (General Service Medal) (Force Intervention Brigade clasp)

Wikipedia Contributions

I have contributed in a small way to a number of Wikipedia pages and developed the {{SA Army Units}} template as well as the {{Medal Display}} and {{Badge Display}} templates.
I track the WP:NOREFLIST and CAT:REF and try to keep them clear.

Backlog status (Purge)
Category	Pages	Current status
Pages with broken reference names	2536	Not done
Pages with duplicate reference names	916	Not done
Pages with incorrect ref formatting	74	No backlog
Pages with missing references list	9	Done
Total	3535

Medal Categories

Medal Recipients

Medal Categories (Purge)
Category	Pages	Current status
Obsolete Medal Display	0	Done
Recipients of the Pro Patria Medal (South Africa)	93
Recipients of the Order of the Star of South Africa	0
Recipients of the Southern Cross Decoration	61
Recipients of the South African Police Star for Outstanding Service	12
Recipients of the Southern Cross Medal	127
Recipients of the Military Merit Medal (South Africa)	110
Recipients of the Order of the Cloud and Banner	27
Recipients of the iPhrothiya Medals	11
Recipients of the Operational Medal for Southern Africa	30
Recipients of the MK South Africa Service Medal	30
Total	154

Civilian life

I used to own and run a small publishing company. Now I do private security and consulting.

Templates created

{{SA Army Units}}
{{SAMHS}}
{{SA Army Chiefs}}
{{SA Defence Chiefs}}
{{Medal Display|Medal Abbrev|ribbon size}}
{{Badge Display|Badge Abbrev|badge size}}
{{Ribbon Display|Medal Abbreviation|Ribbon size}}
{{Post-nominals/ZAR}} ({{postnominals}})
{{BattleHonour|Battle Honour Abbreviation}}
{{SA Medal|Abbreviation|Medal name to be wikilinked|wikilink|Description if different from name}}

MilAwards

I wrote a Lua module called {{Module:MilAward}} which holds all the data I can find for medals in {{Module:MilAward/data}}. This module impliments a variety of functions which draw the data from that stored in {{Module:MilAward/data}} to present it in different ways. I have created the following templates to present that data:

{{Template:MilAward}} - This defaults to the {{Template:MilAward Ribbon}} mentioned below - display the award ribbon linked to the medal information page

To be created:

{{Template:MilAward Ribbon}} Done - display the award ribbon linked to the medal information page
{{Template:MilAward Desc}} Done - display the ribbon and alongside it the medal name with a link to the medal's page
{{Template:MilAward Stats}} - A template which can be used to list all the data in the database. Currently active on {{Template talk:MilAward}} It can be invoked (#invoke) by anyone on any page, and if needed I will create a template for it. Done If I do create the template, I will remove the stat table. Yet Depends on someone making a use case.
{{Template:MilAward PostNom}} - Done a replacement for the {{Post-nominals}} template drawing from the same database.
{{Template:MilAward Stack}} - Done This will allow for a list of medal codes, similar to the current Post-nominals template, which would then display all the ribbons specified in a long horizontal stack, similar to how the {{Template:MilAward Ribbon}} works now with individual ribbons.

As I go, I will also add extra features:

Country=yes - DoneAdd the display of country to the medal description. WIll have to figure out if I display just what's in the data or do an ISO lookup for a country name. (specify the recipient's country and any OTHER country will be added to the description)
Class=no - Allow the turning off of the addition of what's in the "Class" field to the medal description
TextSize=xx - Allow the specification of the size of the text. Probably a percentage. Done for PostNom not for anything else.
Org=yes - Allow the turning on of the display of the contents of the "Org" field
Notes=no - Allow the turning off of the display of the contents of the "Notes" field

Test

National Order of the Southern Cross (Grand Cross)

Major Jack De Valance Greeff (SA Army Retired)

Honoris Crux Silver (HCS)
Pro Merito Medal (1975) (PMM)
Military Merit Medal (MMM)
Pro Patria Medal (South Africa) (with Cunene Clasp)
Southern Africa Medal
General Service Medal (South Africa)
Unitas (Unity) Medal
Commando Closure Commemoration Medal
De Wet Decoration (DWD)
Good Service Medal (Bronze (10 Years))

Proficiency badges

SA Special Forces Operator's Badge
(Qualification)

Gold, 10 Years Black on Thatch beige, Embossed Dagger enclosed with a laurel wreath. Exclusion to indicate diamond on Dagger blade.

Free Fall Paratrooper
(Qualification)

Advanced, Freefall Black on Thatch beige Small Black wings

Sniper
(Qualification)

Black on Thatch beige, Embossed Black rifle and laurel wreath

1st Class Shot – Rifle
(Proficiency)

1^st Class Marksman Black on Thatch beige, Embossed Black (Black rifle), with a black rectangle surrounding the rifle

Assistant Physical Training Instructor
(Qualification)

Assistant PTI Black on Thatch beige, Embossed Crossed sabres

^ Portuguese: Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul – Grã-Cruz
^ Only the Cunene clasp was awarded, to members who served in Angola during Operation Savannah in 1975 and 1976. Recipients of the clasp wear a button, with the letter C encircled by a wreath, on the ribbon bar.

Wiki Awards

Award of WikiChevrons

		The WikiChevrons
		This is in recognition of your creation of Durban Regiment and 19 Field Engineer Regiment (as well as your much more ambitious SA project off-wiki!!) Keep it up! Great work!! Buckshot06 (talk) 08:15, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you @Buckshot06:!! BoonDock (talk) 09:00, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

The South African Barnstar of National Merit

	The South African Barnstar of National Merit
	Awarded to BoonDock for his hard work in creating and contributing to SANDF related articles. Well Done and Thanks! Gbawden (talk) 06:49, 9 December 2014 (UTC) Seconded. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 13:35, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you @Gbawden:!! BoonDock (talk) 09:00, 18 December 2014 (UTC)
Thank you too @Dodger67: BoonDock (talk) 13:45, 21 December 2014 (UTC)

Category:South African military officers

[1] Portuguese: Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul – Grã-Cruz

[2] Only the Cunene clasp was awarded, to members who served in Angola during Operation Savannah in 1975 and 1976. Recipients of the clasp wear a button, with the letter C encircled by a wreath, on the ribbon bar.