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8 South African Infantry Battalion
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8 South African Infantry Battalion
8 South African Infantry Battalion is a mechanized infantry unit of the South African Army. The battalion is equipped with Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) used for fast transport and combat mobility across rough ground. Support weapons for mechanized infantry are also provided with motorized transport, or are built directly into these IFVs, in order to keep pace with the IFVs in combat. The battalion was raised at Upington in the Northern Cape on 1 October 1973 as part of the South African Infantry Corps, and since the change in structure, has been assigned to the Infantry Formation.
8 SAI continues to train for conventional warfare and forms part of the annual brigade-level Lohatla Army Battle School exercise. Training includes IFV-mounted and dismounted fire-and-move drills, and integration with Engineers, Armour, Artillery and Air Force elements.
The unit was established at Upington in the Northern Cape on 1 October 1973 and received its first batch of national service trainees the next January. They could, however, not cope with the Gordonia heat and the unit afterwards received trainees in July.(1986 Intake was in January. 1987 Intake was in February) The base for its first decade consisted mainly of tents, in 1979 the harsh conditions of extreme desert heat and dust storms coupled with limited facilities led to 111 national servicemen from Alpha Company going on AWOL. A resultant Board of Inquiry led to the Base being vastly upgraded in the following years.
In its first decade 8 SAI was a motorised Infantry battalion. The Battalion primarily deployed with Buffel APCs at that stage.
8 SAI had a storm/assault pioneer capability in the 1980s, usually designated Oscar Company. Assault pioneers were the integral combat engineering component of the battalion. Assault pioneers were trained in tasks such as:
The Pioneer Platoon provided small tasks and close support capabilities to the battalion ensuring immediacy of response and decreasing the workload of the engineer squadrons. By the 1990s this function was retired to the Engineering Corps however.
8 SAI experimented with the tactical reconnaissance platoon concept for infantry units around 1981–1982 at Riemvasmaak. These abbreviated pathfinder/reconnaissance courses were given by the SA Special Forces to certain SADF units. A nickname given for this training was the "junior recce" course.
By 1976 infantry operations were being transformed drastically when the Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) was introduced for the first time and in November the first Ratel course was presented at 1 SAI. Similar to 1 SAI, 8 SAI was transformed into a mechanised unit by the mid-1980s and mechanised leaders followed a similar training route.
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8 South African Infantry Battalion
8 South African Infantry Battalion is a mechanized infantry unit of the South African Army. The battalion is equipped with Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) used for fast transport and combat mobility across rough ground. Support weapons for mechanized infantry are also provided with motorized transport, or are built directly into these IFVs, in order to keep pace with the IFVs in combat. The battalion was raised at Upington in the Northern Cape on 1 October 1973 as part of the South African Infantry Corps, and since the change in structure, has been assigned to the Infantry Formation.
8 SAI continues to train for conventional warfare and forms part of the annual brigade-level Lohatla Army Battle School exercise. Training includes IFV-mounted and dismounted fire-and-move drills, and integration with Engineers, Armour, Artillery and Air Force elements.
The unit was established at Upington in the Northern Cape on 1 October 1973 and received its first batch of national service trainees the next January. They could, however, not cope with the Gordonia heat and the unit afterwards received trainees in July.(1986 Intake was in January. 1987 Intake was in February) The base for its first decade consisted mainly of tents, in 1979 the harsh conditions of extreme desert heat and dust storms coupled with limited facilities led to 111 national servicemen from Alpha Company going on AWOL. A resultant Board of Inquiry led to the Base being vastly upgraded in the following years.
In its first decade 8 SAI was a motorised Infantry battalion. The Battalion primarily deployed with Buffel APCs at that stage.
8 SAI had a storm/assault pioneer capability in the 1980s, usually designated Oscar Company. Assault pioneers were the integral combat engineering component of the battalion. Assault pioneers were trained in tasks such as:
The Pioneer Platoon provided small tasks and close support capabilities to the battalion ensuring immediacy of response and decreasing the workload of the engineer squadrons. By the 1990s this function was retired to the Engineering Corps however.
8 SAI experimented with the tactical reconnaissance platoon concept for infantry units around 1981–1982 at Riemvasmaak. These abbreviated pathfinder/reconnaissance courses were given by the SA Special Forces to certain SADF units. A nickname given for this training was the "junior recce" course.
By 1976 infantry operations were being transformed drastically when the Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) was introduced for the first time and in November the first Ratel course was presented at 1 SAI. Similar to 1 SAI, 8 SAI was transformed into a mechanised unit by the mid-1980s and mechanised leaders followed a similar training route.
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