Royal Irish Rangers

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The Royal Irish Rangers 27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th was an infantry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1968 by the amalgamation of the three remaining Irish infantry regiments:

These three regiments together made up the North Irish Brigade, which was unique in the army at that time in containing regiments of different designations, in this case fusiliers and rifles; this made the decisions on amalgamation more difficult than those of the other large regiments formed at the time.

The discussions between the commanders led to the decision that neither title should be favoured, and that a unique regiment with the designation rangers being adopted, a title that had not existed in the British Army since 1922 (see Connaught Rangers).

The Royal Irish Rangers came into being on 1st July 1968, a date initially known as Vesting Day (and then Ranger Day), emphasising that the traditions of the old regiments were vested in the new.

  • The caubeen was adopted as the headdress for the new Regiment as all the former regiments had worn it
  • The green hackle was formerly worn by the Royal Irish Fusiliers
  • The Castle collar badges had been worn by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
  • The black buttons had been worn by the Royal Ulster Rifles
  • The brown cross belt was a compromise between the brown Sam Browne belts worn by the Fusiliers and the black cross belt worn in the Rifles
  • The Great Irish Warpipes carried by the Royal Ulster Rifles pipers and the Brian Boru Pipes carried by the The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers pipers were abandoned in favor of the Great Highland Bagpipe, which thus became standardized throughout the British Army.

The reorganisation of the infantry at that time meant that the new regiment would immediately lose one battalion, with the 3rd Battalion (former Royal Irish Fusiliers) being disbanded in December 1968.

With the creation of the Divisions of Infantry, the Royal Irish Rangers became part of the King's Division, along with regiments from the north of England. This continued until 1991 and Options for Change. Under this reorganisation, the Royal Irish Rangers were amalgamated with the Ulster Defence Regiment to form the new Royal Irish Regiment. Today, the name of the Royal Irish Rangers continues through the Territorial Army battalion in Northern Ireland, which nominally exists to fill gaps in the Royal Irish Regiment's ORBAT, but can be deployed in support of any regular unit. With the announcement that all the home service battalions will be disbanded on the 1st August 2007, it has been suggested that the Royal Irish Rangers may be renamed the Royal Irish Regiment, to move in line with its regular counterpart.

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