SANDF – SPECIAL FORCES TODAY

The South African Special Forces soldier is one that has qualified as Operator. The history goes back to 1972 when 12 soldiers under J Breytenbach started the unit in Oudtshoorn. It was then named 1 Reconnaissance Commando and the soldiers were nicknamed “Recce’s”.
The formation has grown and seen quite dramatic changes over the last 45 years. This is required to adapt to the continuously changing operational environment. Notwithstanding the formation changes the training cycle of the soldiers and the quality of the soldiers have remained largely unchanged.

The Special Forces utilization today is influenced much more by the needs within the AFRICAN UNION context. This requires them to be ready to act effectively in all the conflict spots of Africa as well as act of our officials abroad. This is a daunting operational environment as soldiers operate very far from their support and operate independently. This requires a very high standard of training.

The Special Forces today has 5 Arms
– The Head Office
– The SF school
– The SF Supply Unit
– 4 SF Regiment
– 5 SF Regiment