Brigadier General Krubert Eric Nel is a retired South African Army officer who also served in the

South African Special Forces The South African Special Forces Brigade, colloquially known as the Recces (from "reconnaissance"), is South Africa's principal military special operations unit specialising in various types of operations, including counter-insurgency, counte ...

Military career

Brig Gen Nel joined the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Fo ...

at the School of Engineers in January 1978 as a National Serviceman, where he later became an officer. In 1980 he completed the Special Forces Cycle Training and was transferred to 4 Reconnaissance Regiment in

Langebaan Langebaan is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the eastern shore of Langebaan Lagoon. Langebaan is situated 120 km north of Cape Town, just off the R27 (Western Cape), R27, about 28 km from Vredenburg and 20 ...

. In May 1985 he participated in the ill-fated incursion into Cabinda -

Operation Argon Operation Argon (sometimes denoted simply as ''Operation Cabinda'') was an unsuccessful military operation carried out by South African South African Special Forces Brigade, special forces in May 1985 with the objective of destroying six fue ...

- that resulted in two Special Forces operators being killed in action and a third being captured by MPLA forces. From 3 January 1994 to 13 March 1998 he was the Officer Commanding of 4 Special Forces Regiment and then served as the Chief of Staff of the

Brigade from 1 March 1998 until 31 December 2002, becoming the

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

on 1 January 2003. In January 2006 he was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the

South African Army Infantry Formation The South African Army Infantry Formation supervises all infantry within the South African Army. History Origins: Union Defence Force South African Infantry originated as the ''Infantry Branch'' of the Union Defence Forces in 1913. In 1915, ...

. Brig Nel took early retirement from the SANDF on 31 March 2012.

Awards and decorations

Medals

Gen Nel has been awarded the following medals: * * * * * * * * * *

Proficiency and Qualification badges

Gen Nel qualified for the following:

References

South African Army generals Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{SouthAfrica-mil-bio-stub