only in January 1977. Located with its headquarters in Randburg, Transvaal it was then still part of 1 SA Corps. Its name was allocated by General N. van den Berg. On 25 May 1981 Colonel Jan Breytenbach, the officer commanding of 44 Parachute Brigade, visited the regiment and the future airborne strategy and role of 18 Light Regiment was spelled out as support to the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade with artillery firepower during airborne operations, or any other operations of the brigade. In June 1982 the regiment was incorporated into the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade and its new base, Murray Hill. Attempts were made at the time by the brigade to change the regiment's name to 44 Light Regiment, but this idea did not meet the approval of the then Chief of Army. 18 Light Regiment was structured slightly different from the other conventional medium artillery regiments. The regiment consisted of a small RHQ element and 3 batteries, namely 181, 182 and 183 Battery. Each battery consisted of two troops, each with four 120 mm mortars. Each mortar detachment consisted of five gunners. The 120 mm mortars of the regiment gave it an ideal airborne capacity. The regiment could now be deployed as a true light artillery regiment. In order to fulfill the airborne objective, the personnel were required to qualify as paratroopers. The existing officers and men of the unit who were not yet qualified took this as a challenge, and in March 1982 the leader element was sent to 1 Parachute Regiment in Bloemfontein for parachute training. The Regiments traditional blue artillery berets were now exchanged for the paratroopers' maroon berets. Engineering 44 Field Engineer Squadron (20 April 197811 January 1990) The unit was inaugurated in April 1978 as part of the formation of 44 Parachute Brigade. Initially a squadron, it started out from scratch without any office facilities or an official commanding officer. It got its first leadership when in 1982, a then 2nd Lieutenant Gerhard Pretorius was appointed as first adjutant and later on as first officer commanding of the squadron. He commenced with the construction of offices and the unit began organizing itself. On the first call out of this unit for training the unit comprised three 2nd lieutenants and thirty other ranks. The most senior non-commissioned officer at the time was a corporal. The unit underwent its first training at the hands