Foundation for tradition laid at 48 Airborne

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In age terms the fledgling 48 Airborne Modern Brigade is young, exceedingly so, but that hasn’t dampened the start of traditions and value to boost camaraderie and esprit de corps.

First and foremost, 48 Airborne has a flag it can look up to and identify with thanks to Patrick Visser of Model Engineering in Heidelberg. He sponsored an interim brigade flag that was handed and taken over at the General de Wet shooting range in Bloemfontein.

48 Airborne is, according to Major KE Mkhwanazi, Staff Officer 1, Operational Communication, SA Army, the first brigade of its type to be “established in the post-democratic era”. It, along with four other modern brigades, is the brainchildren of SA Army Chief, Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha.

At the ceremony, Brigadier General Bayanda Mkula said: “Military flags are an integral part of military units. Apart from identity, pride and uniqueness of units, flags represent command and control as they are hoisted at the headquarters”.

The second component that will be integral to 48 Airborne tradition in years to come is what is termed the “log and dagger”. It is literally a log with four daggers stuck into it to symbolically being the soldier from the sky.

The log represents the ruggedness of the paratrooper, the daggers symbolise paratroopers’ aggressiveness and the “driving in of the daggers” symbolises the unity of airborne soldiers regardless of rank, writes Mkhwanazi for SA National Defence Force (SANDF) social media. “In the airborne, all soldiers are equal and depend on each other for survival during battle with four daggers representing rank groupings – officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and privates.”