Now just to issue the Regiment with a nice long barreled 7.62mm NATO rifle, and increase time spent at the range. :)

 

A ceremony has been held as 5 British Army regiments merge together to form a new "super regiment" called The Rifles.....

Parades mark end of regiments
 

 

By ONLINE REPORTER
February 01, 2007

[img]http://images.thesun.co.uk/picture/0,,2007050848,00.jpg[/img]
Cap badge ceremony ... 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry

 

A SPECIAL parade was held in the Scottish capital today to mark the formation of a new Army regiment - and the end of five existing ones.

 

The Edinburgh-based 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry has merged with four other battalions to create The Rifles - the largest infantry unit in the Army.

 

Soldiers from the battalion took part in a cap badge changing ceremony at their Redford Barracks base this morning, when the unit became the 3rd Battalion The Rifles.

 

Troops from four other regular units also held similar parades in England, Germany, Afghanistan and Iraq as they merged to become part of the new regiment.

 

The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, The Light Infantry and The Royal Green Jackets are all reforming as new Rifles battalions.

 

The Rifles is now the largest regiment of infantry in the Army, comprising five regular battalions, two TA battalions, three TA companies in two TA battalions, many Regimental Associations and 12,000 cadets - a quarter of the Army Cadet Force.

 

[img]http://www.army.mod.uk/img/lightinfantry/college_of_arms_bugle_horn.jpg[/img]
The new badge of The Rifles

thesun.co.uk
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The Rifles is a British Army Regiment that was created as a result of the Future Army Structure. Announced on 24 November 2005 by the Ministry of Defence, The Rifles was formed on 1st February 2007 by the amalgamation of the four light infantry and rifles regiments of the Light Division:

 

The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry

 

The Light Infantry

 

The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry

 

The Royal Green Jackets

The two existing battalions each of the Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets were renamed, while the single battalions of the DDLI and the RGBWLI were merged into one battalion. This brought the whole of the Light Division under a single cap badge.

 

The new regiment has 5 regular and 2 Territorial Army Battalions.

 

1st Battalion - amalgamation of the 1st Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry and the 1st Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry

 

2nd Battalion - redesignation of the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets

 

3rd Battalion - redesignation of the 2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry

 

4th Battalion - redesignation of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets

 

5th Battalion - redesignation of the 1st Battalion, The Light Infantry

 

6th (V) Battalion - redesignation of the Rifle Volunteers

 

7th (V) Battalion - redesignation of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, minus the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment company, plus the Royal Green Jacket companies of the London Regiment

 

On formation, The Rifles became as the county regiment of the following counties:

 

Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Cornwall
Devonshire
Dorset
Durham
Gloucestershire
Oxfordshire
Shropshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Wiltshire

 

As a rifle regiment, a private soldier in The Rifles is known as a Rifleman; the regiment wears a standard rifle green beret. A number of golden threads have been brought into the new regiment from each of its founder regiments:

 

* Croix de Guerre - the French Croix de Guerre ribbon awarded to the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, and subsequently worn by the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, is worn on both sleeves of No. 1 and No. 2 dress.

 

* Back Badge - the badge worn on the back of headdress that was awarded as an honour to the 28th Foot, and subsequently worn by the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry is worn on the forage cap and side hat, and on the shako of the regimental band and bugles.

 

* Bugle Horn - the bugle horn badge of the Light Infantry is the regiment's cap badge.

&nb

Talking about Baker rifles, in the parade on Tuesday a Baker rifle is going to be passed through the ranks, and then an SA-80A2 passed through, to show the change of old to new.

 

Funny thing is, the Baker is a solid real rifle, while the SA-80A2 is some cheap plastic toy model...