SA Army(SADF) M83 Field Pack + H Frame - Grootsak

SADF M83 Field Pack + Frame / Rug Sak

Grootsak

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/repository/a-guide-to-the-sandf-2/

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Repository/A-Guide-to-the-SANDF/A-guide-to-the-SANDF-chapter-9-army-app-i-load-bearing-equipment.pdf

https://kommandostore.com/products/pre-sale-pattern-83-rucksack

The P83 Rucksack, colloquially known as the grootsak (“big bag” in Afrikaans), certainly lives up to its name. It is technically a Bergen Rucksack, an alpine-style bag popularized by the British SAS. If a mountain bag seems far from home in desert warfare, well you'd be right. During the Border Wars the SADF had a habit of judging equipment by usefulness. Not by how pretty it looked, not where it came from, or who used it. If it was effective the SADF would take it---from Chicom rigs, which inspired the whole P83 system to all kinds of Mad Max style technicals and mine resistant vehicles.

The Grootsak fits neatly into this practical mindset, a large comfortable bag suitable for long range patrols---but equally fast into action. Notably, it is the first bag of it's kind designed specifically to be worn with a chest rig.

While the Pattern 83 Battlejacket was intended for those brief, high-speed, hide and seek operations, the Pattern 83 Rucksack/Chest Rig combo specializes in long-term patrols, sometimes lasting multiple weeks. The spacious bag allows the soldier to carry 8 Liters of water along with a full complement of food, ammunition and equipment. In practical use, the SADF often hiked in their own mortars...

Despite it's large size the Grootsak was highly innovative. Equally at home with foot soldiers and motorized troops, the bag features a unique quick detach buckle far ahead of it's time. In the close contact, ambush warfare so characteristic of the Border War---this allowed the SADF soldier to transition from ruck march to firefight far faster than a similarly equipped opponent. This was the genius of the Pattern 83 Field Pack/Chest Rig system. Every soldier was always ready for rapid movement and counterattack.