[1]: Pt2Ch1 The majority of San soldiers have their origins as members of the Portuguese Army during the Angolan War of Independence.

[1]: Pt2Ch1 The South West Africa Territory Force SWATF[2] renumbered battalion numbers according to their geographical positioning on the border.

During Operation Savannah in Angola, members were deployed in a conventional role as Battle-Group Alpha, part of Task Force Zulu, and advanced approximately 2,000 kilometers in a month.

Some of the San were trained as parachutists and served in the units reconnaissance wing behind enemy lines.

UN Resolution 435 called on South Africa to reduce its forces in Namibia to 12,000 before the start of any peace process and finally to 1500 by 1989.

Several thousand San, fearing reprisal or intimidation, left for South Africa with the SADF.