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36-703: The Royal Gurkha Rifles ( RGR ) is a rifle regiment of the British Army , forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas . Unlike other regiments in the British Army , RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal , which is neither a dependent territory of the United Kingdom nor a member of the Commonwealth . The regiment was formed as the sole Gurkha infantry regiment of the British Army following

72-452: A British commission and described as "Late Entry." Direct entry officers can be either British or Nepali (occasionally); they follow the normal British Army training for all direct entry infantry officers. A significant addition to the normal direct entry training for British RGR officers is that they will carry out Nepali language training in Nepal, which culminates in a month-long hike through

108-511: A battalion HQ and 6 companies rather than the three or four of normal battalions. The RR is a counter-insurgency force made up of soldiers deputed from other Indian Army combat arms and services. Several battalions carry the affiliations of the rifle regiments mentioned above. Infantry Battle School The Infantry Battle School, Brecon is a British Army training establishment at Dering Lines in Brecon , Wales . The Infantry Battle School

144-589: A mass volley was often followed by a bayonet charge. The side that fired first charged, then had its charge disrupted by the opposing volley; firing first was not necessarily an advantage. These tactics proved ineffective versus the French troops and their Native American allies in the often wooded terrain of North America in the middle of the 18th century. Unofficial experiments with troops wearing homemade dark green or brown coloured jackets and carrying lighter gear were carried out by 60th (Royal American) Regiment under

180-574: A military presence in Southeast Asia . Meanwhile, the other battalion is based at Sir John Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe , near Folkestone in Kent as part of 4th Light Brigade Combat Team , and is available for deployment to most areas in Europe and Africa . 1 RGR and 2 RGR rotate between Brunei and Folkestone, typically every 3 years. Coriano Company and Falklands Company operate as part of

216-569: A musket the increase in accuracy and change in tactics more than compensated for this delay. European armies in the 18th century largely consisted of large numbers of line infantry troops in brightly coloured uniforms firing volleys in massed formations on open fields. More emphasis was placed on volume of fire than on individual marksmanship, there was little room for individual manoeuvrability and soldiers were expected to carry heavy packs and march in file. As muskets took so long to reload and were rather inaccurate at more than one or two hundred yards

252-402: A rally point nor drums to issue commands the riflemen used bugles as signals. Many tactics pioneered by the riflemen are standard infantry tactics today. Rifle regiments were notable for disciplinary proceedings somewhat less harsh than other units, such as less frequent flogging. Officers in the rifle regiments would also dine with the enlisted men, a practice that was uncommon at the time and

288-641: A succession of reforms of Britain's military reserves that saw most Militia infantry and Volunteer Rifle Corps units re-titled as numbered battalions of county infantry regiments, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of which were typically regular army, and most of which were identified as line infantry. By example, the 1st Berkshire Rifle Volunteer Corps raised in 1860 became the 4th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) in 1908. As rifle regiments travelled in dispersed formation and specifically did not carry colours there

324-573: Is last in the said order (save for Les Voltigeurs de Québec , which marches in the same pace as the regular infantry regiments). However, both the Halifax Rifles and The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own), as armoured reconnaissance regiments which are part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps , march on parade ahead of the other regiments and in the same pace as regular infantry units. India has only

360-543: Is still unusual, officers and enlisted soldiers typically having separate messes. In class-conscious British society, where officers tended to come from the upper classes, and bought and sold commissions, this triggered condescension from regular army officers, who regarded riflemen as socially inferior. With the formation of the part-time Volunteer Force after the Crimean War , most of its units were Volunteer Rifle Corps, although most of these lost their identities through

396-479: The 4 Gorkha Rifles —no.23 in the precedence order—marching at the same pace as British rifle regiments, with 11 other similar regiments marching at the normal Indian Army pace of 120 steps a minute for quick marches during parades. The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment , no.2 in the infantry order of precedence in the Sri Lanka Army and 3rd overall in the general Army order of precedence, does its marching drill in

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432-720: The Army Special Operations Brigade providing training, mentoring and operational support for indigenous forces in partner nations, and is based in Aldershot Garrison. In addition to the operational battalions, three further units are cap badged as Royal Gurkha Rifles: These three are formed as operational training units at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , the Infantry Battle School and

468-699: The Baker rifle instead of a musket, travelling in dispersed formation, often in pairs, instead of a marching in file and were instructed to aim and be selective of targets. (The use of green was so distinctive that it led to the naming of the Green Jackets Brigade who became the Royal Green Jackets .) Officially the Baker was issued only to rifle regiments, while other infantry units were issued with muskets. Having neither Colours to act as

504-689: The Land Warfare Centre , to provide opposing forces for realistic battle simulation. Prior to 2011, administrative support for the entire Brigade of Gurkhas was provided by specially trained personnel called Gurkha clerks , who wore the cap badge of the Royal Gurkha Rifles. In June 2011, the Gurkha clerks were amalgamated into a single company sized unit called the Gurkha Staff and Personnel Support Company (GSPS), which

540-502: The 2nd Battalion was deployed as the Afghanistan Roulement Infantry Battalion , while the 1st Battalion deployed as part of 52 Infantry Brigade in late 2007. During this tour, Cornet Harry Wales ( Prince Harry ) was attached for a period to the 1st Battalion as a Forward Air Controller . Under Army 2020, the regiment was intended to provide two light role battalions, rotating between Brunei and

576-610: The Cachar Levy, is the oldest Paramilitary unit in India that goes back to the nineteenth century and it was raised to guard British Tea Estates from the raids of marauding tribals. In time its functions turned into both police and military nature. It fought in both World Wars and in several Indo Pakistan wars as well as Indo Chinese war of 1962 apart from containing insurgencies in Northeastern India , in particular within

612-531: The Canadian government following Confederation . Rifles designations were maintained when the militia was reorganized to the Canadian Army in 1940. The Canadian Army Primary Reserve has seven rifle regiments (two armoured reconnaissance, five infantry). The Indian Army presently maintains 10 rifle regiments as follows: It also maintains the paramilitary Assam Rifles . This unit, formerly called as

648-549: The Experimental Corps of Riflemen which eventually developed into the 95th Rifles , subsequently titled the Rifle Brigade . These troops were distinguished by wearing dark green instead of scarlet jackets ( rifle green ), a black stripe down the outside of each trouser leg instead of red, black horn buttons instead of polished brass, and black belts instead of white (all to act as camouflage ), being armed with

684-503: The Indian Army names used before (e.g. havildar and naik). Similarly, the regiments' Viceroy Commissioned Officers, who were neither commissioned officers nor non-commissioned officers but filled most of the junior officer positions in a battalion, had their titles changed to (King's) Queen's Gurkha Officer (QGO), e.g. lieutenant (QGO), captain (QGO), major (QGO) instead of the Indian Army ranks of jemadar, subedar, and subedar-major. At

720-790: The Nepalese countryside both to practise their language skills and learn about the country from which their soldiers are recruited. Corporal Dip Prasad Pun of the 1st battalion (1 RGR) was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for an act of bravery during the War in Afghanistan in 2010. He alone defended his outpost against a force of up to 12 Taliban fighters . He fired more than 400 rounds, 17 grenades, and one mine. He resorted to fighting with his machine gun tripod after his ammunition had run out. The battle honours of

756-521: The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, carry a guidon in the traditions of cavalry units. As they are relatively new units, rifle regiments tended to come at the end of the order of precedence when on parade. Following amalgamations and reorganisation in the 19th century some rifle regiments were found substantially higher in order of precedence, such as were The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) , than they are today. With restructuring,

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792-540: The Royal Gurkha Rifles are as follows: Rifle regiment Rifles had existed for decades before the formations of the first rifle regiments, but were initially too slow to load and too unreliable for use as practical weapons for mass issue. With improvements in the designs of rifles, the first rifle regiment was raised very late in the 18th century as armies could now equip entire units of troops with these new weapons in preference to earlier firearms such as muskets . Though rifles still took about twice as long to load as

828-618: The UK, with their higher unit as 11th Infantry Brigade. However, in June 2015, the 2nd Battalion, then based in the UK, was reassigned to form part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, in the air assault infantry role. In 2018, the UK Government announced that it intended to recruit more than 800 new posts to the Brigade of Gurkhas. Approximately 300 of these are planned for the Royal Gurkha Rifles, which

864-607: The area of the Seven Sister States, corresponding to the former large territories of the state of Assam. The Assam Rifles, being a police unit in nature, comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs of India, but much of its officers cadre are deputized officers from the Indian Army. In addition, a number of infantry battalions have been designated as Rashtriya Rifles (RR) counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism battalions, which are larger than regular rifle battalions with

900-775: The battle honours when in ceremonial uniform. The Royal Gurkha Rifles carry the Queen's Truncheon instead of a colour. The Indian Army regiments use president's banners instead of colours. These are of the light green facing with the regimental emblem. In the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment, the president's and regimental truncheons are used instead. Only the Halifax Rifles and the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) , both Canadian Army primary reserve rifle regiments under

936-463: The consolidation of the four separate Gurkha regiments in 1994: The amalgamations took place as follows: The 3rd Battalion was consolidated with the 2nd Battalion in 1996 as part of run down of British forces in Hong Kong . The Gurkhas in general and the direct predecessors of the Royal Gurkha Rifles in particular are considered to be among the finest infantrymen in the world, as is evidenced by

972-535: The formation of the 3rd Battalion was cancelled, with instead a number of independent companies established to reinforce units across the British Army. The first formed unit, Coriano Company, was subsequently followed by a second, Falklands Company, which was attached to 2nd Battalion, The Rangers . At any one time, one battalion is based at the British garrison in Brunei as part of Britain's commitment to maintaining

1008-572: The high regard they are held in for both their fighting skill, and their smartness of turnout on parade. In December 1995, Lieutenant-Colonel Bijaykumar Rawat became the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, the first Nepalese to become a battalion commander in the RGR. He oversaw the departure of the battalion from Hong Kong just before that city's transfer to Chinese control, and the battalion's relocation to Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Church Crookham in 1996. Twice during its most recent Brunei posting

1044-531: The inspiration of 1st battalion commander Henri Bouquet . A sister battalion, the 5/60 that was raised from foreign troops later fought in the Peninsular War equipped as a normal regiment. It quickly replaced its line infantry with riflemen to become a rifle unit in practice, and later in the 19th century it was named a rifle unit. Following this successful experimentation, in 1800 Colonel Coote Manningham handpicked troops from fifteen regiments to raise

1080-562: The same manner. Historically, many regiments consisted of single battalions . After the British Army was restructured in 2003, many regiments have been combined into large regiments. Regiments that perpetuate the history of rifle regiments include: Canadian rifle regiments originate from the Canadian Militia , a sedentary militia raised to support of British Army operations in British North America , as well as

1116-568: The same time, some RGR Gurkha officers had a Queen's Commission; they often had a (GCO) suffix after their rank. Subsequently, on 17 June 2008, the London Gazette published a Supplement that effectively abolished the QGO system by listing every serving QGO officer with their new commissioned rank (e.g. captain (QGO) became captain); the (QGO) and (GCO) suffixes disappeared. Thus, serving Gurkhas, who previously would have become QGO, are now given

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1152-727: The two existing British Army rifle regiments— The Royal Gurkha Rifles and The Rifles —now come at the very end of the regular infantry parade order of precedence, ahead of the Special Air Service . Each of the 5 Canadian Army rifle regiments all are within the order of precedence of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps , but march in the same pace as the British rifle regiments right before the Royal Newfoundland Regiment , which

1188-665: Was established at Brecon in 1939, at the start of the Second World War . The Parachute Regiment formed a battle camp there in 1961, which was absorbed by the Tactical Training Wing of the School of Infantry in 1976. The school was further redeveloped in 1995. A sub-unit of the Royal Gurkha Rifles , Gurkha Wing (Mandalay), is tasked with providing realistic OPFOR training for those at

1224-519: Was incorporated as part of the Adjutant General's Corps . As with the other Gurkha support units ( Queen's Gurkha Engineers , Queen's Gurkha Signals , Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment ), the GSPS received its own cap badge based on the badge of its parent corps. Upon joining the British Army the RGR's predecessor regiments adopted British rank titles (e.g. sergeant and corporal) instead of

1260-530: Was no place to carry their battle honours. Initially they did not carry drums either, but now these are carried, and battle honours are placed on them. Battle honours also appear on the cap badges. When The Rifles were formed in 2007, the cap badge of the Royal Green Jackets was modified into the belt badge, worn on the waist belt up to corporal and on the cross belt for bandsmen and all ranks from serjeant onwards. This means that every rifleman carries

1296-561: Was to see the formation of a new battalion planned for the specialist infantry role . On 11 March 2019, the Minister for the Armed Forces confirmed that the 3rd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles would be reestablished, with recruitment starting in 2019. The battalion was reformed on 31 January 2020, to be based initially at Shorncliffe before moving to Aldershot. However, following the revised Future Soldier (British Army) reorganisation,

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