117 Battalion beret badge

117 Battalion beret badge with rear screw post and nut fixings.

Base and command. The battalion was a motorised infantry unit, equipped with Buffel APCs and Samil 20 trucks. Its headquarters was at Soekmekaar. It first came under Group 45 and later moved to Group 14 at Pietersburg (now Polokwane). Commanders listed for the unit include Lt Col L Scheepers, Lt Col P de Vos Viljoen and Lt Col T Snyman.

After 1994. Around 1997 it became a training unit. It was later merged into 3 South African Infantry Battalion in the new SANDF.

The badge. The motto "Tiro Šano" is the battalion's official motto. It is Northern Sotho (Sepedi). It is usually read as "working together" or "cooperation". The leopard inside a rope wreath is a common motif in SADF regional battalion insignia. For example, its neighbour 121 Battalion in Zululand also used a leopard head.