Bermuda Regiment
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| The Bermuda Regiment | |
|---|---|
 Cap Badge of the Bermuda Regiment |
|
| Active | September 1, 1965 |
| Country | Bermuda (UK) |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Role | Internal Security |
| Size | One Battalion |
| Garrison/HQ | Warwick Camp |
| March | Quick - The Bermuda Regiment March |
| Anniversaries | Beat the Retreat, Bermuda Day, Peppercorn Ceremony, Queen's Birthday, Labour Day, Convening of the Legislature, Remembrance Day |
| Commanders | |
| Commanding Officer | Lt. Col. William White |
| Colonel-in-Chief | HRH The Duchess of Gloucester |
| Honorary Colonel | Col. Eugene Raynor |
The Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally-voluntary units, the all white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) and the mostly black Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA).
Contents |
[edit] History
The BVRC and the BMA had been raised at the end of the 19th Century in order to allow the Regular Army component of the garrison to be reduced. The regular units withdrawn were required for the build-up of what would become the British Expeditionary Force. In 1953, when the coastal artillery batteries were taken out of use, the BMA, while still wearing the Royal Artillery cap badge, converted to the infantry role. This left the Colony wastefully maintaining two separate infantry units. After the Royal Navy's dockyard was closed in 1950, the military garrison, which had existed primarily to protect the Royal Navy base, was closed down. The last regular unit (a detachment from the DCLI) was withdrawn in 1954, and the two Bermudian territorials ceased to have any military role under Imperial defence planning (with 1953 being the last year an Imperial Defence Plan, under which their roles were assigned, was issued). Although the Colonial government had only formed the two units at the behest of, and under pressure from, the British government, it chose to continue maintaining them entirely at its own expense.
The amalgamation of the forces took place on 1st September, 1965. The new Bermuda Regiment's stand of colours was presented by Princess Margaret. Princess Margaret presented a second stand of colours to replace the first in 1990, to mark the Bermuda Regiment's 25th anniversary. Although the Bermuda Regiment inherits the battle honours of the units amalgamated into it, they are not displayed on its colours, and are rarely mentioned. The battle honours it inherits from the BVRC, all from the Great War, are Ypres 1915, Neuve Chapelle, Loos, Somme 1916, Ypres 1917, Lys, Hindenburg Line, Messines 1917, Somme 1918.
[edit] Dress
The badge of the Bermuda Regiment combines elements from those of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and the BVRC. Flashes, and other colour marks used on dress and elsewhere (such as backgrounds on signs about Warwick Camp) are red and blue, reflecting the colours of the Royal Artillery, but the stable belt worn is rifle green, with black edges, referring to the colours used by the BVRC.
The dress uniform itself is closer to the old Royal Artillery pattern, and to the generic full-dress uniform used by most British regiments today, being composed of dark blue tunic and trousers, and differing only in the red cuffs and collar added to the tunic. The trousers have a broad red stripe running down the outide of each leg. A generic dark blue peaked cap with red hat band is worn with this uniform. During the summer months, a generic British Army white, tropical weight tunic is worn.
The combat uniform for much of the Regiment's history included a mixed collection of British uniform items. As with its predecessors, the Bermuda Regiment has a tradition of wearing temperate uniforms, including combat jackets and pullovers, for much of the year, and tropical uniforms during the summer months. This is a result of the peculiar climate of Bermuda. For many years, and unusually for an infantry unit, the Regiment wore the Denison parachute smock which it inherited from its predecessors, only adopting the 1968 pattern DPM combat jacket in the 1980s (which it continues to wear, although it became obsolete with Regular British Army regiments in the same decade). Green shirts and lightweight combat trousers began to be supplemented by DPM tropical uniforms in the 1980s, and by the mid nineties had been entirely replaced by them (although the green kit, like the Denison smocks, was handed down to the Regiment's Junior Leaders, and to the Bermuda Cadet Corps, which continue to wear it). The beret worn is the generic dark blue one worn by the majority of British Army units (those which lack a distinctive colour of their own). 1958 pattern carrying equipment was only replaced quite recently with DPM Personal Load Carrying Equipment (PLCE).
Little use is made of Service Dress, which is only issued to a handful of permanent staff members, though which is interesting as the colour varies slightly from the standard British Army khaki (being greener), and as, during the summer months, the long trousers are replaced with Bermuda shorts. The Bermuda Regiment service dress is composed of temperate weight tunic and trousers, worn with a peaked cap of the same colour, and with a khaki shirt, and tie. Whereas its predecessors often used tropical weight service dress during the summer months, it uses the same uniform worn in shirt sleeve order - usually, a short-sleeved khaki shirt with no tie, whether worn with long trousers or shorts of the same temperate weight and colour. A stable belt is worn in shirt sleeve order. Mess dress is also worn for many functions by members of the Officers' Mess, and of the Sergeants' (and Warrant Officers') Mess.
[edit] Organisation
[edit] Leadership
As Bermuda is a British overseas territory, and defence is therefore the responsibility of United Kingdom, the Bermuda Regiment is under the control of the Governor of the island. However, pay and financing is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, and the command of the Regiment, along with that of the Bermuda Police Service, is delegated to a minister of the Bermuda Government for day-to-day purposes.
On its formation, the Regiment's Honorary Colonel was HRH Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, who became Colonel-in-Chief in 1984. After her death in 2002, the position was assumed by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The unit is directly commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel, as is typical of a battalion in the British Army, who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice of a Defence Board. The current commander, William White, was appointed on May 27th, 2006 to serve for a standard three-year tenure. In some cases, such as that of White's predecessor Lt. Col. Edward Lamb, that tenure can be extended by the Governor.
[edit] Manpower and structure
The Regiment's original strength was about 400, including all ranks. Following discipline problems during an exercise in the West Indies, a report on the unit was commissioned from Maj-General Glyn Gilbert, the highest-ranking Bermudian in the British Army. Maj-Gen. Gilbert also took into account the difficulties the Regiment had experienced in meeting its obligations when embodied during the civil unrest of 1977. He made a number of recommendations, including the increase of the Regiment's strength to a full battalion of about 750, with three rifle companies and a support company.
Today, following a steady reduction in the number of 18 year old males eligible for conscription each year, the Regiment has a strength of approximately 530, with a full time administrative component of 30. After a review in the late 1990s, the Bermuda Regiment had its establishment reduced to its present format:
- A Company: Second and third year soldiers.
- Training Company: First year soldiers.
- Support Company: Boat Troop, Regimental Police, Signals, Guns/Assault Pioneers, Medics and Motor Transport section.
- Quartermasters Company: Logistics and stores.
One of the units amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment, the BMA, was nominally an artillery unit, although it had converted to the infantry role in 1953. Other than a ceremonial Gun Troop, equipped with two 25-pdr. field guns, the Bermuda Regiment is wholly an infantry unit.
[edit] Conscription
The majority of the Regiment is made up of conscripts, making it unique among all of the land forces still under the British Crown. Conscription is based on a random lottery of men over the age of 18, with exemptions granted to Police and Prison officers, members of the British regular forces (or who have served for two years therein), church ministers, prisoners or those who have been judged to be of "unsound mind". Temporary deferment is granted for full-time students (attending either the Bermuda College or schools abroad), for the length of their studies, for members of the Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps, and individuals currently medically unfit but likely to become fit again.
This practice (of conscription) is frequently condemned, particularly for its sexism and its similarity to slavery, by both Bermudians and by aware foreigners, and has been noted in the British Parliament. It does receive a fair amount of support from the community, however, and is hailed for causing interaction between social and racial groups. Moral issues aside; however, this does leave the force dependent on the qualities of senior officers, whereas similar units – the British Army, in particular, upon which the Regiment is modelled – emphasise the initiative of junior members.
Towards the end of 2005, the Regiment received further criticism from the UK, this time in the form of an inspection by the Ministry of Defence. The review noted that equipment was substandard (half of the vehicles and signal equipment were noted to be "out of action") and that command and control was poor, though it also noted high morale and firearms proficiency.
[edit] Operations
The primary role of the Regiment has recently become disaster relief. Other roles include ceremonial duties, and supporting the Bermuda police department in internal security issues (both in the forms of riot-control and anti-terrorism). In 2001, following the September 11 attacks on the nearby United States, the Bermuda Regiment was embodied, taking over responsibility for the security of the Bermuda International Airport (Bermuda has always been a point of importance in trans-Atlantic aviation, and a large number of aircraft diverted to the Island when US airspace was closed) and other potential targets. In 2004 and 2005 the Regiment deployed to the Cayman Islands and Grenada to assist in post Hurricane Ivan restoration efforts.
The Regiment also performs a wide variety of community service operations, such as graffiti clean-up[1] and assisting residents moving out of condemned buildings and into new homes[2]. It is also involved in many cultural events on the island, especially in parades.
[edit] Overseas connections
During the Great War, the Bermuda Regiment's predecessor, the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) sent two drafts to serve with the Lincolnshire Regiment on the Western Front. After the War, the connection to the Lincolns was made official. When the Volunteer Army had been reorganised into the Territorial Army in 1908, its battalions were linked to British (Regular) Army regiments which adopted paternal roles, providing the part-time units (which, in most cases, were renamed as additional battalions of the Regular Army regiment) with loaned warrant officers and NCOs, and sometimes officers, and taking other steps to give them the benefit of their experience. During war-time, the Territorials would send drafts of volunteers to the Regular battalions, or (once the restriction on sending Territorials overseas without their consents was lifted) the entire TA battalion might be sent. The role the Lincolns adopted with the BVRC was similar to that it played with its own TA battalions, although the BVRC remained a separate unit. The BVRC again provided two drafts to the Lincolns during the Second World War. When the BVRC (re-named the Bermuda Rifles) was amalgamated with the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), to create the Bermuda Regiment, the Royal Anglian Regiment, into which the (Royal) Lincolnshire Regiment had itself been amalgamated , continued the paternal role. Throughout the Bermuda Regiment's history, the Royal Anglians have provided it with Permanent Staff Instructor (PSI) Warrant Officers (WO2) for each of its companies, as well as other personnel on long-term and short-term attachments (although it should be noted that other Regiments have occasionally provided personnel on loan). Although the Bermuda Regiment has always managed to provide commanding officers from within its own strength, it has occasionally had to use seconded officers when unable to provide its own personnel to fill roles such as Second-In-Command (2-i-c), Staff Officer, Adjutant, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM), and Training Officer. Its first nine Adjutants (1965-1984) were all seconded from the Royal Anglians. Nine of its Regimental Sergeant Majors have been seconded, including three from the Royal Anglians. In 1996, its Second-in-Command, Staff Officer, and Adjutant were all on loan from the Royal Anglians. This frequent resort to seconded officers is due to a problem common to many Territorial units in Britain, also. These positions are all full-time ones, ideally filled by officers who volunteer from within the regiment, but whose service in these roles is restricted to three years. As relatively few officers can afford to leave their civil careers for three years, the problem is not so much caused by a lack of suitable officers, as a lack of willing ones.
The Lincolnshire Regiment was also affiliated to The Lincoln and Welland Regiment of the Canadian Army, and this affiliation is continued by both the Royal Anglian Regiment and the Bermuda Regiment. The Lincoln & Welland Regiment also loans personnel to the Bermuda Regiment for short-term attachments, especially for the Bermudian unit's two-week annual camps.
Members of the ceremonial Gun Troop carry out occasional training with the Royal Regiment of Artillery in Britain, although the troop has no combat artillery role. As one of the units amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment, the BMA, was an artillery unit (which history the Gun Troop commemorates), members of the Regiment are entitled to join The Royal Artillery Association (RAA), which has a branch located on the grounds of the former St. George's Garrison (which had been predominantly a Royal Garrison Artillery establishment).
[edit] Corps Warrant
In late 2001, the Bermuda Regiment was presented with a Corps Warrant dated 21st February, 2000, by the British Army. The Warrant allowed the Regiment closer ties with the British Army, enabling it to participate in United Nations missions. Some also speculated that the Regiment could receive financial support from the British Government. However, to date little has come of this. The only other overseas force to be included on the Warrant was the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.
[edit] Other
The Bermuda Regiment also developed a relationship with the United States Marine Corps, which had supplied a detachment to Bermuda for many years to guard United States Navy facilities. In addition to occasional training with the US Marines in Bermuda, the Bermuda Regiment used facilities and training areas of the US Marines' Camp Lejeune, and Camp Geiger for training, with the two rifle companies having been sent there every second year for their annual camps, and the Training Company's Potential Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCO) Cadre being sent there each June (it had previously been sent to Canada). Following the increased usage of those bases by US forces preparing for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bermuda Regiment has recently moved the location for its annual camps to Florida, where it is developing a relationship with the Florida National Guard. The location of annual camps in alternate years is Jamaica. The Bermuda Regiment's training in the USA and in Jamaica is self-contained, rarely involving local units, but friendly relationships have been developed with both the US Marine Corps, and the Jamaican Defence Forces (JDF). Over the last few years, a relationship has also been developed with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, and small detachments sent with that regiment on its annual training deployments to Morocco. [3]
[edit] Alliances
[edit] Commanding Officers
The Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment (as also the Second-In-Command, the Staff Officer, the Adjutant, the Aide-de-camp, and the Regimental Sergeant Major) is a full-time position, requiring those appointed to the role to take leave of their civilian employments. Originally, there was no
limit to the term of a commander, but, following Col. Gavin Shorto's six years in the office, a three-year limit was introduced. The Commanding Officer is chosen from amongst the Majors of the Battalion, and is promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Upon retiring from the role, Commanding Officers are given an honorary promotion to Colonel.
- Lieutenant-Colonel John Brownlow Tucker, OBE, TD, MCP (ex-BVRC, ex-Lincolns, ex-BMA)
- Lieutenant-Colonel J. Anthony Marsh, DSO, OBE (ex-DCLI, ex-SAS).
- Lieutenant-Colonel Michael L. Darling, OBE, ED, JP
- Lieutenant-Colonel Colin C. Curtis, OBE, ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel Brendan O'D. Hollis, OBE, ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene Raynor, OBE, ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel A. Gavin Shorto, OBE, ED, JP
- Lieutenant-Colonel D. Alan Rance, OBE, ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel David A. Burch, OBE, ED, JP
- Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Outerbridge ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel David Gibbons, OBE, ED
- Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lamb ED
- 2006-Present Lieutenant-Colonel William White ED
[edit] Gallery
 Two Bermuda Regiment Warrant Officers. |
 The Bermuda Regiment Band |
 A Permanent Staff Instructor (PSI) with senior Non-Commissioned Officers of the Bermuda Regiment. |
 The main gate of Warwick Camp, as it appears today, from the South Shore Road (formerly The Military Road). |
 A platoon of the Training Company of the Bermuda Regiment, at Warwick Camp, during Recruit Camp 1993 |
 Bermuda Regiment Corporal's Mess at Warwick Camp. |
 Bermuda Regiment soldiers play football on the parade ground of Warwick Camp. |
 25 Pounder (88mm) field gunof the Bermuda Regiment's ceremonial Gun Troop. |
 Bermuda Regiment WO2, with General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). |
 A motorboat of the Bermuda Regiment Boat Troop moves out of the Great Sound, past the HMD, Bermuda, on Ireland Island. |
 An NCO of The Lincoln and Welland Regiment attached to a rifle company of the affiliated Bermuda Regiment training in Jamaica, 1996. |
 Jamaican Defence Force soldier with a sergeant of the Bermuda Regiment in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. |
 An NCO of the Bermuda Regiment wears a windproof smock under a floatation device. |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Website of the Bermuda Defence Department
- Land Forces of Britain, The Empire & Commonwealth: The Bermuda Regiment
- POTSI: The Bermuda Regiment
- Official list of Royal Artillery Association branches.
- The Royal Gazette: "The closest thing to a plantation in Bermuda is Warwick Camp"
- Law Info: "Bermudian premier criticizes youths seeking to end draft "
- 21 Square: Prisoners?
