Roulement

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Roulement is a term used by the British Army to signify major combat units (usually battalion strength) that are deployed on short tours of duty, normally for 6-months duration.

The British Army has historically deployed infantry battalions for 6-month and 24 month - roulement tours of Northern Ireland. Other Corps Royal Armoured Corps (R.A.C), Royal Artillery (R.A.) etc when being used as Infantry only deployed on 4-month tours during Operation Banner, this was more to do with the cost of re-training back to role then any operational reason. An R.A.C. Crewman cost an estimated £500,000 to train and skills were lost during any longer tour.Royal Marine commando battalions serving as infantry in Northern Ireland are also roulement units.

The British Army currently deploys roulement units to Iraq as part of Operation Telic, and to Cyprus on Operation Tosca with the UN.