In 1977, 1 SAI received its first consignment of 42 Ratel IFVs, along with a redesigned shoulder flash, depicting a wild honey badger.

For the next four years, mechanised infantry leadership students shared the same lines as 1 SAI's conventional companies, but were required to wear a nutria brassard on the right arm with a green and yellow embroidered honey badger insignia in order to stand out and ensure Espirit de Corps.

These platoon commanders were destined to either become future leaders of 1 SAIs rifle companies or instructors at the Training Wing, while the Specialist Instructors would become Officers and NCOs responsible for training Ratel gunners and drivers.

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.

[2] Peled writes that after January 1993, 151 Battalion, formed from the Southern Sothos in the Orange Free area, was assimilated into 1 SAI.

1 SAI is equipped with Ratel 20 Infantry Fighting Vehicles,[5] Ratel 60 mm (2.4 in) Mortar Platform Vehicles, Ratel Command Vehicles with mounted 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine guns, Kwevoel 100 Armoured Trucks for IFV Recovery, field maintenance, fuel bunkers and water provision,[6] Samil 50 and 100 logistics trucks, Samil 20 trucks for its organic field workshops, Casspir APCs for its forward artillery observation party,[citation needed] and Rinkhals Field Ambulance.

[10] Under Project Hoefyster, the SANDF will eventually replace the Ratel family of vehicles with the Badger system.