Warriors SOUTH AFRICAN DEFENCE FORCE 1990S
recruits to their limits in the wilderness of Northern Zululand, with potential recce commandoes having to cover 20 miles in less than 6 hours while carrying a full combat load weighing up to 35kg! Other tests would include carrying a comrade in a fireman’s lift for 200 metres in under a minute, a week long simulated combat exercise and a “survival” test of spending 48 hours alone in the bush, with only a knife and rifle with a handful of rounds to defend themselves. Our Warrior this month is kitted out in the standard late 80s uniform of the South African Defence Force Infantry. While the SADF experimented and utilised a variety of camouflage patterns (including oddly some copies of Warsaw Pact DDR schemes) the SADF are perhaps best known for their use of “nutria brown”, a dark sand flat tone well suited to the terrain of South Africa. Our trooper’s basic uniform consists of a lightweight four pocket jacket and trousers with two large cargo pockets in nutria brown, both jacket and trousers have button down pockets and the trousers feature draw strings at the ankle. Hard wearing and light weight, the SADF combat uniform is ideal for combat operation in the “bush” and for colder months a padded variant was available. Completing the basic combat uniform are a pair of standard issue brown leather SADF boots and an M87 pattern helmet which is easily distinguished by its flipped back cloth sun visor attached to the helmets cover. Most South African troops utilised a form of combat webbing common to free world forces of the cold war years. SADF webbing looks almost like a lighter coloured hybrid of British 58 pattern and US M56 webbing at first glance and holds a complete fighting load for the solider; comprising of two ammo pouches, kidney pouches, water bottle, poncho roll and daysack/large pack but it is in the field of assault vests where the SADF made its name.
clashes with Warsaw Pact and Cuban “advisors” sent to train and bolster their enemies. It is almost impossible to verify these claims but more than one SADF solider has recounted being in a firefight with East German troops on the South African border, or finding Cuban uniforms and equipment in the aftermath of a raid on an enemy encampment. It is believed that a staggering 300,000 Cubans served their military service in the 23 year long bush war and conducted military operations against South Africa; the number of Chinese, North Korean, East German and Soviet “advisors” can only be guessed at. Beset from all sides by a determined foe, the SADF fought bravely and earned their place as one of the world’s most proficient armed forces but one cannot help feel that the “cause” they fought for was inherently “wrong”. Politics aside, however, an SADF loadout is not only practical but relatively cheap and easy to source for airsoft. You’ll certainly turn heads on the skirmish field although it’s probably best to leave the excessive cam cream at home!
THE VENERABLE SAAV
The “South African Assault Vest”, or SAAV, is perhaps one of the best known staples of airsoft. It’s often the first “assault vest” or webbing set new players invest in and is now available in a bewildering array of camo patterns but, back in the early 80s when the M83 SAAV was introduced (alongside a lesser known chest rig variant) it was something of a revelation. Original M83 SAAVs (as pictured here) soon proved their worth with the SADF and became “must have” combat gear in the British Army as well. The SAAV was seen as a “Gucci” bit of kit in the 80s and 90s and those who could acquire them and get away with wearing them utilised these “bomb proof” tough vests with a ridiculous carrying capacity in theatres as wide ranging as Northern Ireland through to the Persian Gulf and some UK Paras have even been seen wearing them as late on as their deployment to Kosovo. One of the SAAV’s best features is its wide array of pouches able to carry any type of small arms magazine and its large “daysack” at the rear, often now used for hydration system. This versatility has earned itself a place well deserved place in the halls of “classic” tactical kit. Armed with a Vektor R4 rifle our SADF trooper is well equipped to tackle a combat mission into enemy territory, although it would not be uncommon for more “behind the lines” patrols to carry captured soviet made Kalashnikovs assault rifles to disguise both their appearance at long range and their “sound signature” should they get into a firefight. It was common practice for the SADF to send at least one of their patrols armed (and often dressed) like their communist guerrilla opponents, in order to get effective intelligence before committing the main force of an attack. To this end South African soldiers would often “black up” before going on operations. While incredibly “politically incorrect” to a modern European readership, this practice of covering all exposed skin of a white soldier with black camo paint allowed SADF soldiers (and in particular the Special Forces) to approach black settlements and get far nearer before arousing suspicion or alarming sentries. Not all of the SADF opponents were black nationalists however. Many accounts by SADF veterans recount border
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