The Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) is a cavalry regiment

Cavalry regiments of the British Army

There are currently nine regular cavalry regiments of the British Army, with two tank regiments provided by the Royal Tank Regiment, traditionally classed alongside the cavalry, for a total of eleven regiments. Of these, five serve as armoured regiments, and five as formation reconnaissance...

 of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments: The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards

4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards

The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1992.It was formed in India in 1922 by the amalgamation of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and 7th Dragoon Guards , as the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards; it gained the distinction Royal in 1935...

 and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards

5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards

The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1922 to 1992, when it was amalgmated into the Royal Dragoon Guards.-The beginning:...

. The Regiment currently serves in the armoured role

Armoured regiment (United Kingdom)

The Type 58 armoured regiment is one of two organisations currently provided by cavalry regiments of the British Army, and is a battalion-sized formation equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks. It is the descendant of traditional heavy cavalry, intended to provided massed armour for use in a...

, equipped with the Challenger 2

Challenger 2 tank

FV4034 Challenger 2 is a British main battle tank currently in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems . The manufacturer advertises it as the world's most reliable main battle tank...

 main battle tank and Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (tracked)

Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked)

The Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance  —or CVR—is a family of armoured fighting vehicles s in service with the British Army and others throughout the world...

 Scimitar and is based in Catterick

Catterick Garrison

Catterick Garrison is a major Army base located in Northern England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world with a population of around 12,000, plus a large temporary population of soldiers, and is larger than its older neighbour...

, North Yorkshire. Today the RDG is an operationally experienced regiment; it has served in Iraq (Operations Telic 5 and 11), and in 2010 became the first complete armoured regiment to deploy to Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 during Operation Herrick

Operation Herrick

Operation Herrick is the codename under which all British operations in the war in Afghanistan have been conducted since 2002. It consists of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and support to the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom...

 12.

The Regiment recruits soldiers from the North of England and Ireland, but predominantly from Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

.
The Royal Dragoon Guards has served in a variety of roles and theatres since its formation.