Talk:British Army Infantry

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[edit] Future Infantry Structure - My Version

I thought, just for the hell of it, I'd put on here my thoughts of the way the new infantry structure should be - don't worry, I'll try my best to justify it too :-P

Guards Division Scottish Division King's Division Prince of Wales' Division Queen's Division Light Division
Grenadier & Coldstream Bn, English Guards 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Royal Scots Border Fusiliers 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border) 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th(V) Bn, The Light Infantry
Scots, Irish & Welsh Bn, Celtic Guards 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th(V) Bn, Royal Regiment of Highlanders 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th(V) Bn, Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th) 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th(V) Bn, Mercian Regiment 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Royal Green Jackets
1st(V) & 2nd(V) Bn, Machine Gun Guards 1st, 2nd & 3rd(V) Bn, Royal Anglian Regiment
  • I've amalgamated the five regiments of Foot Guards into two regiments to conform to the structure of the other divisions - keeping them as five single battalion regiments means that the Guards will not have the same oppotunities for career development and variety as other infantry regiments - this way, they can remain within their general recruiment areas (England for the Grenadier and Coldstream, the other three home nations for the Scots, Irish and Welsh), and fixed battalion roles, while allowing their men to move between battalions.
  • For the same reason, I've given the Royal Irish Regiment a second regular battalion - remaining as a single battalion will limit the options of the soldiers of the RIR. In order to gain this extra battalion, I would stop the disbandment of one of the home service battalions and re-role it.
  • I have also given an extra battalion to the Royal Gurkha Rifles - to me, it is not fair that the Gurkhas do not have the same opportunities as other soldiers in the British Army to serve as armoured or mechanised infantry, or as air assault. This way, two of the Gurkha battalions can remain as light infantry, while the third does something different.
  • In order to keep within the 36 battalion limit set out by Future Army Structure (which is ridiculous to me) while allocating these two extra battalions, I have disbanded two battalions of the Parachute Regiment - given the fact that large scale parachute operations are a rarity these days, I have decided to allocate the paratroop role to companies in the light infantry battalions within the regular infantry, in much the same way as the Canadian Army does. Not only will this provide more variety within a large regiment, but it will also mean that the air assault role (currently assigned to the two battalions of the Paras plus one other) can be completely spread among the ordinary infantry, allowing yet more diversity of opportunity. The traditions of the Parachute Regiment can also still be maintained through the 1st Battalion, which will be the special forces support battalion.
  • The removal of the Parachute Regiment has meant the disbandment of their TA battalion, so I have created a full, two battalion regiment of Guards in the TA, again to conform to the structure of two TA battalions per division. This can be formed by splitting the London Regiment in two, with three rifle companies and half the HQ company each - of these, the two English companies (PWRR, RRF) could form one battalion with one RGJ company, while the two Celtic companies (London Scottish, London Irish Rifles) could form a battalion with the other RGJ company. I have also named this regiment as the Machine Gun Guards, perpetuating the name of the sixth Guards regiment that was formed for service in the First World War.
  • Finally, the most contentious issue of all - I will not amalgamate the Scottish regiments into one single giant regiment, but instead have a two battalion regiment of Lowlanders and a three battalion regiment of Highlanders. This way, each can maintain the various traditions of their regions while still conforming to the structure laid out of large regiments.
  • This will allow the new large infantry regiments the variety of five different roles:
    • Armoured Infantry
    • Mechanised Infantry
    • Light Role Infantry
    • Air Assault Infantry
    • Parachute Infantry

Anyway, that's the way I'd do it - it seems to me that the structure as it is now is a half-thought out, halfway house that allows vested interests to keep their prizes while screwing the rest. The above allows a greater semblance of the regimental structure to remain, and allows a greater variety of roles to be spread a bit more equally. To me, the above seems to at least take the thing to a proper and logical conclusion. But, that's only my opinion. Hammersfan 18:30, 21 September 2005

  • Re: the amalgamation of the guards- I shudder to think what the recation of the Grenadiers and the Coldstreams would be if someone tried to lump them into a single Regiment, especially the argument over who would become the 1st battalion and who the 2nd. MartinMcCann 6 Oct 2005
  • Well, as the Guards are a 'special case' :-P, it's always possible that they wouldn't need numbers; for example:
    • English Guards
      • Grenadier Battalion, English Guards
      • Coldstream Battalion, English Guards

However, I still believe it is fairer for those who choose to join the guards this way than what is proposed. Hammersfan, 17:30, 10 October 2005

[edit] New Regiments

So, instead of one very large regiment, we now have two. The Rifles has now joined the Royal Regiment of Scotland in the order of battle. How long will it be therefore until the remaining regiments decide it's better to amalgamate into very large regiments? Then into a single corps of infantry? I know this is inappropriate to say on here, but damn this pointless government for descerating and destroying the fabric of the army. Hammersfan, 15.35, 26 November 2005

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