[1] Rands wrote in 2011 that 'The men at the Ketbek Garrison of Major General Gordon Kong of the SAF largely became SPLA with the 2006 Juba declaration.
The UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan named it in January 2016 as one of the GOSS's most effective fighting forces (S/2016/70).
The Small Arms Survey wrote in early 2016 that '..[the] Division, stationed in Renk and widely regarded as the best fighting force in the country, is largely Nuer.
Until 2 December 2015, it was under the command of Stephen Buay, a Bul Nuer who was subsequently redeployed to lead the SPLA’s 4th Division in Rubkona, Unity State.
He was reassigned after months of rumours that he was planning to desert and join the SPLA–IO, following tensions with the Padang Dinka administration in Upper Nile.