Ulster Defence Regiment
Encyclopedia
The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 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...

 which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage. The UDR replaced the Ulster Special Constabulary
Ulster Special Constabulary
The Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force in Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the founding of Northern Ireland. It was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency...

 ("B-Specials") along with a separate police reserve, to assist the regular Armed Forces. It was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

s and an extra four added within two years.

The regiment consisted overwhelmingly of part-time volunteers until 1976 when a full time cadre was added. Recruiting from the local community at a time of intercommunal strife, it was accused of sectarian attitudes and collusion with loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...

 paramilitary organisations through most of its term. The regiment was intended to be nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....

, and it began with Catholic recruits accounting for 18% of membership. However, in time suspicion and disenchantment among the Catholic community grew, and Catholic membership settled at around 3%.

In 1992 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers
Royal Irish Rangers
The Royal Irish Rangers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army.-Creation:...

 to form the Royal Irish Regiment.

In 2006 the Royal Irish Regiment was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross is a second level military decoration of the United Kingdom armed forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in the awarding of gallantry decorations...

 which entitled the Ulster Defence Regiment to now be known as The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC.

Background

According to Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, the ethos of the Northern state was "unashamedly and unambiguously sectarian," although Senia Paseta argues that discrimination was never as calculated as nationalists maintained nor as fictional as unionists claimed. The Northern Ireland civil rights campaign
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for equal civil rights for the all the people in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 which began in the mid-1960s attempted to achieve reform by publicising, documenting, and lobbying for an end to abuses in areas such as housing, unfair electoral procedures, discrimination in employment and the Special Powers Act
Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922
The Civil Authorities Act 1922, often referred to simply as the Special Powers Act, was an Act passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland shortly after the establishment of Northern Ireland, and in the context of violent conflict over the issue of the partition of Ireland...

. Their main demands had been for measures to bring an end to the religious discrimination, their catch-cry being ‘one-man, one-vote.' The summer of 1968 then saw the first of a series of civil rights marches while in Britain, concern was raised at these reports of gerrymandering
Gerrymandering
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts...

, job discrimination and triumphalist use of British national symbols. The security forces were and remained disproportionately Protestant and frequently sectarian.

Internationally, there was concern with civil and minority rights with Northern Ireland part of this international trend. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for equal civil rights for the all the people in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 therefore secured much wider international and internal support than traditional nationalist protest. According to the authors of Northern Ireland: 1921/2001 Political Forces and Social Classes, the one area which exemplified the formation of the northern state was the constitution of the security forces. They say that the strategy pursued by the Unionist middle class along with the British governments diplomatic strategies were responsible for the establishment of a sectarian-populist flavour in the Northern Ireland. With the formation of the Northern state, the establishment of an independent paramilitary force had been anticipated. This populist Protestant self-assertiveness and official endorsement would shape the Catholic attitudes to both the security forces and the state.

Disbanding of the Ulster Special Constabulary
Ulster Special Constabulary
The Ulster Special Constabulary was a reserve police force in Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the founding of Northern Ireland. It was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency...

 or "B Specials" was therefore one of the demands of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. The security forces membership heavily overlapped with the Orange Order, likewise the ruling Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

, and were therefore according to Constantine Fitzgibbon
Constantine Fitzgibbon
Robert Louis Constantine Lee-Dillon Fitzgibbon was a historian and novelist.-Birth, family and marriage:...

, the armed branch of the Order, which he says controlled the new mini-state. Together, the B Specials and the RUC were viewed by many nationalists as the “Protestant armed wing of the Protestant political establishment.” Many in the RUC, and virtually all the B Specials, were according to Ruane and Todd, defenders of the Protestant community first, defenders of the Protestant state second, and normal policemen third. The clashes between marchers and loyalists they say, forced them to take sides, undermining any claims they had to be normal policemen. As the civil rights campaign began it was attacked by loyalist mobs, the RUC and B Specials looked on or actively took part in the attacks. Unionists, however, generally supported the USC as contributing to the defence of Northern Ireland from subversion and outside aggression.

Following the 1969 Northern Ireland Riots
1969 Northern Ireland Riots
During 12–17 August 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intense political and sectarian rioting. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising from the civil rights campaign, which was demanding an end to government discrimination against Irish Catholics and nationalists...

 policing in Northern Ireland was reviewed by the Hunt Report.

Hunt Report

The Ulster Defence Regiment was created in 1970 by Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 following recommendations from the Hunt Report
Hunt Report
The Hunt Report was produced by Baron Hunt in 1969 to "examine the recruitment, organisation, structure and composition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Special Constabulary and their respective functions and to recommend as necessary what changes are required to provide for the...

. The report was commissioned by the Government of Northern Ireland to: "examine the recruitment, organisation, structure and composition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the Ulster Special Constabulary and their respective functions and to recommend as necessary what changes are required to provide for the efficient enforcement of law and order in Northern Ireland."

The report, presented in October 1969, recommended that the RUC "should be relieved of all duties of a military nature as soon as possible". Further; a "locally recruited part-time force, under the control of the G.O.C., Northern Ireland, should be raised"... and that the "force, together with the police volunteer reserve, should replace the Ulster Special Constabulary." The report recommended that it be replaced with a force that would be "impartial in every sense" and remove the responsibility of military style operations from the police force." ,

Political reception

The British government accepted the findings of the Hunt Report and published a Bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....

 in November 1969 to begin the process of establishing the UDR.

The MP for Mid Ulster
Mid Ulster
Mid Ulster can refer to:* Central Ulster* Mid Ulster * Mid Ulster * Mid Ulster English* the proposed Mid-Ulster District local authority...

, Bernadette Devlin would not support the new regiment and from the outset condemned it as a "reincarnation of the B Specials," In a debate at Westminster
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

, Jeremy Thorpe
Jeremy Thorpe
John Jeremy Thorpe is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and was the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time...

 MP pointed to the fact that a "substantial majority" was to be recruited from former B Specials and questioned if this was "likely to increase the chances of general acceptance in Ulster?" In a direct reply Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...

 pointed out that this was due to "necessity" and that the vast majority of the Specials were "men who have given good and honourable service to Northern Ireland." When asked in Parliament if there was an automatic right of transfer for B Specials, Denis Healey
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...

 replied that there wasn't but that applications would be treated on the grounds of suitability.

In a House of Commons
House of Commons of Northern Ireland
The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act...

 debate at Stormont
Parliament Buildings (Northern Ireland)
The Parliament Buildings, known as Stormont because of its location in the Stormont area of Belfast is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive...

, John Hume
John Hume
John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....

 objected to the fact that Lt-Col Stephen Miskimmon, the commandant of the B Specials had, in his final letter to each individual member of the force, enclosed a form to be completed if the individual concerned wished to join the RUC Reserve or Ulster Defence Regiment. Sir Robert Porter
Robert Porter (politician)
Sir Robert Wilson Porter PC , QC is a former politician and barrister in Northern Ireland.Born in Derry, Porter studied at Foyle College and Queen's University Belfast before in 1943 joining the Royal Air Force, and serving until 1946...

 replied that these forms were not application forms and had been to ascertain if members of the B Specials had any previous military experience and wished to join the new force. He also said that Hunt had expressed the hope the members of the B Specials would join "one of the two new forces". The Ministry of Defence issued a statement which said that Miskimmon's forms were to be ignored and only the official forms accepted as applications. It further stated that any future letters of such a nature must be cleared with the MoD. This was, however, only one of a number of errors which diluted Catholic confidence in the integrity of the new force.

In a debate in the House of Commons at Westminster on 12 November 1969, the possible role which the B Specials would play in the development of the [then] proposed Ulster Defence Regiment was debated. The then Minister of State for Defence Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...

 stated to the house:
Bernadette Devlin, MP, later in the debate asked:
The Belfast Telegraph disagreed. In editorials several days apart its pages declared: "In no sense can the new Regiment be regarded like the old USC, as a vigilante force and a law unto itself. Inevitably the members of the new force will be provided by present B Specials and just as inevitably it is already being smeared in some quarters as simply the old force in new uniform. Every effort must be made to ensure that this is not so. No-one must be able to put a denominational tag on the UDR and if one of the senior officers in the force happened to be a Roman Catholic, so much the better.... The establishment of this new force should be regarded as a turning point in the life of the community."

Some politicians called for a full implementation of the Hunt Report
Hunt Report
The Hunt Report was produced by Baron Hunt in 1969 to "examine the recruitment, organisation, structure and composition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Special Constabulary and their respective functions and to recommend as necessary what changes are required to provide for the...

 which recommended a more neutral name, a reduction in the proposed size of the force and a ban on the recruitment of B Specials' county commanders as UDR battalion commanders.

Writers such as Constantine Fitzgibbon
Constantine Fitzgibbon
Robert Louis Constantine Lee-Dillon Fitzgibbon was a historian and novelist.-Birth, family and marriage:...

, recorded the extreme levels of violence employed against Catholics by the B Specials in particular, comparing them to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

. The B-Specials he says, became, for the Catholic minority in the North of Ireland and for Irish nationalists in all Ireland, “the most hateful symbol of Orange oppression in the Province.”

The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 received Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...

 on 18 December 1969, and was brought into force on 1 January 1970 by Statutory Instrument
Statutory Instrument
A Statutory Instrument is the principal form in which delegated or secondary legislation is made in Great Britain.Statutory Instruments are governed by the Statutory Instruments Act 1946. They replaced Statutory Rules and Orders, made under the Rules Publication Act 1893, in 1948.Most delegated...

, 1969 No. 1860 (C. 58), The Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969 (Commencement) Order 1969, providing the legal framework for the regiment to be raised.

Formation

General Sir John Anderson
John Anderson (British Army officer)
General Sir John D'Arcy Anderson GBE KCB DSO was a British Army General who reached high office in the 1960s.-Military career:Anderson was commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1929...

 GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 (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:...

) was appointed as the first Colonel Commandant and the first regimental commander was Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

 Logan Scott-Bowden CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...

 DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 OBE MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 & Bar (a WW2 veteran).

The Belfast Telegraph reported on 18 February 1970 that the first two soldiers reported as signing up were a 19-year-old Catholic and a 47-year-old Protestant.

The response from the B Specials was mixed. Some felt betrayed and resigned immediately, while others grasped the new opportunity and made application to join the UDR as soon as forms were available. The B-Specials had another option open to them after disbandment: to join the newly-formed RUC Reserve. Many did so, especially in Belfast, where during the first month of recruiting, only 36 Specials applied to join the UDR compared to a national average of 29% - 2,424, one thousand of whom were rejected, mainly on the grounds of age and fitness. Around 75% of the men of the Tyrone B Specials applied and, as a result, the 6th Battalion started life as the only battalion more or less up to strength and remained so during its history. The border counties in general followed this pattern. It also meant that former B Specials dominated these battalions. The story was different for Belfast, Londonderry, Down and Antrim, where the figures were markedly more balanced with a high proportion of Catholic recruits. The results at 3 UDR were best in this respect. The battalion commenced duty with 30% of its numbers as Catholic.
By the end of March 1970, the number of accepted recruits was 2,440 including 1,423 ex B Specials and 946 Catholics.
The breakdown for each area was:
Battalion Applications Accepted USC Accepted
Antrim (1UDR) 575 221 220 93
Armagh (2UDR) 615 370 402 277
Down (3UDR) 460 229 195 116
Fermanagh (4UDR) 471 223 386 193
Londonderry (5UDR) 671 382 338 219
Tyrone (6UDR) 1187 637 813 419
Belfast (7UDR) 797 378 70 36


The table above shows the number of B Specials who joined the regiment before it began duties. By 1 April 1970, only 1,606 of the desired 4,000 men had been enlisted, and the regiment began its duties much under strength.

According to Potter, a number of former members of the B Specials felt aggrieved at the loss of their force and were not prepared to join the UDR. In some cases, they even booed and jeered passing UDR patrols and that most resistance was by the B Specials in County Down where the District adjutant of the Specials actively campaigned in an effort to persuade B Specials not to apply for the new force.

Potter wrote that unless the numbers of recruits from both communities reflected the demographics of Northern Ireland, it would never become the model which Lord Hunt intended it to be. Whilst Catholics continued to join the regiment he says, the numbers were never sufficiently high enough, except in 3 UDR. The 3rd (Co. Down) Battalion was, according to Potter, the unit with the highest percentage of Catholic members throughout the Troubles, beginning with 30%. In 3 UDR some sections were staffed entirely by Catholics and this led to protests from the B Specials Association that in 3 UDR "preference for promotion and allocation of appointments was being given to Catholics". This he suggests can be explained by the fact that the local Territorial Army company of Royal Irish Fusiliers
Royal Irish Fusiliers
The Royal Irish Fusiliers was an Irish infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th Regiment of Foot and the 89th Regiment of Foot in 1881. The regiment's first title in 1881 was Princess Victoria's , changed in 1920 to The Royal Irish Fusiliers...

 had been disbanded in 1968 and the vast majority of its members had joined up en-masse.

The new company commander of C Company was the former company commander of the TA unit and according to Potter, was amazed to see that virtually all of his TA soldiers were on parade, in the TA Centre, in exactly the same drill hall as they had previously used, for the first night of the new regiment. He noted according to Potter, that there were some former B Specials in the room and made the observation that they did not initially associate with the others - not on the grounds of religion but because the former TA soldiers all knew each other socially and sat together on canteen breaks whereas the B Men kept to their group of comrades but within a week both groups had melded together.

Many Catholic recruits found themselves reporting for duty in B Specials drill halls according to Chris Ryder and in some cases the new Catholic recruits were cold-shouldered or ignored and generally made to feel unwelcome to the point where they resigned. Despite this he says, many Catholics stayed in the regiment but following Operation Demetrius
Operation Demetrius
Operation Demetrius began in Northern Ireland on the morning of Monday 9 August 1971. Operation Demetrius was launched by the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary and involved arresting and interning people accused of being paramilitary members...

 there was a general outcry by nationalist politicians because no Protestant paramilitaries were interned: only Catholics suspected as members of the IRA. On 18 August 1971 SDLP MP Austin Currie
Austin Currie
Austin Currie is a former politician who was elected to the parliaments of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland....

 (whose own brother was a member of the regiment) publicly withdrew his support for the regiment, and noted that for some time the IRA had been discouraging Catholics from joining but following Operation Demetrius more serious intimidation began to emerge.

The first serving Catholic to be killed was 32-year-old part-time Private Sean Russell of 7 UDR, who was shot in 1970, in front of his wife and children, by members of the Irish Republican Army who burst into his home in the predominantly Catholic area of New Barnsley, Belfast. The last was part-time Private William Megrath of 11 UDR who was shot dead in July 1987 as he drove through the Twinbrook area of west Belfast on his way home from his civilian job. The worst period he notes was in the fourteen months following internment
Operation Demetrius
Operation Demetrius began in Northern Ireland on the morning of Monday 9 August 1971. Operation Demetrius was launched by the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary and involved arresting and interning people accused of being paramilitary members...

 when seven Catholic soldiers were killed by the IRA. In that period, they numbered 7% of the regimental strength he says but in terms of the numbers of UDR soldiers killed by the IRA the percentage was 28%.

The Belfast Telegraph reported that, as a result of IRA pressure and disillusionment with the government's attitude towards the minority community over internment, 25% of Catholics in the regiment resigned in 1971, 50% of those in the months following internment.
The regiment attempted to halt the exodus of Catholics in a number of ways Potter notes, including allowing battalion commanders to appear on television (normally not permitted for the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at that time), with appeals to religious and political leaders and the implementation of extra personal-security measures. Although the Ministry of Defence never admitted to any intent on the matter, he comments that when Brigadier Scott-Bowden's term as Commander UDR finished in 1972, his successor was Brigadier Denis Ormerod, a Catholic whose mother's family came from the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. His second-in-command (Deputy Commander UDR), Colonel Kevin Hill, was also Catholic, as was his successor Colonel Paddy Ryan, whose father lived in Donaghadee
Donaghadee
Donaghadee is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles south east of Bangor. It had a population of 6,470 people in the 2001 Census...

, Co Down. Ormerod admitted in his memoirs that his religion and appointment as the senior Catholic Army officer in Northern Ireland helped him considerably in his rapport with Catholic religious leaders but that, conversely, these appointments also created unease with Protestants and he was visited by a number of concerned politicians including, notably, Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

.

Operational role

The primary function of the regiment was to assist the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

 by "guarding key points and installations, to carry out patrols and to establish check points and road blocks" against "armed guerrilla-type attacks".
Patrols and vehicle checkpoints
Civilian checkpoint
Civilian checkpoints or Security checkpoints are distinguishable from border or frontier checkpoints in that they are erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary control...

 on public roads were designed to hinder the activities of paramilitary groups.

As the force was initially predominantly part-time the presence of its members was mostly felt during evenings and weekends. It was expected to answer to general call-outs, and was mobilised on a permanent basis on several occasions such as Operation Motorman
Operation Motorman
Operation Motorman was a large operation carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation took place in the early hours of 31 July 1972 with the aim of retaking the "no-go areas" that had been established in Belfast, Derry and other large towns.-Background:The...

 to provide manpower assistance to the police and army.

As the regiment evolved into a predominantly full-time unit it assumed more duties previously assigned to the police or Army in support of Operation Banner
Operation Banner
Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007. It was initially deployed at the request of the Unionist government of Northern Ireland to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary . After the 1998 Belfast Agreement,...

. By 1980, the full-time element had become the majority and the regiment's role had expanded to include tactical responsibility for 85% of Northern Ireland supporting the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Ulsterisation

Ulsterisation
Ulsterisation
Ulsterisation refers to one part 'primacy of the police' of a three part strategy by the British Government to pacify Northern Ireland during the conflict known as The Troubles...

 is the term applied to the policy by the British Government to reduce regular Army troop numbers in Northern Ireland and bring local forces into the front line as a result of international opinion about British soldiers being used in what could viewed as a "colonial occupation". Also known as "Normalisation" or "Police Primacy". One of the major changes in policy was to return control of internal security matters to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which had effectively been under the command of the Army since the Scarman and Hunt reports which called for the restructuring of the severely-undermanned force of 1969. In a report commissioned in 1976, recommendations were made which included:
  • An increase in the establishment of the RUC and RUC Reserve.
  • The creation of RUC "mobile support units".
  • An increase in the conrate establishment of the UDR to enable it to take over tasks from the regular Army.
  • The UDR to provide a 24-hour military presence.


Despite the rapid induction of 300 extra recruits to the UDR and the raising of "Operations Platoons", the scheme was hampered by the shortfall of conrate officers in the UDR who could take on the role of operations officers. It also placed a heavier demand upon senior NCOs trained as watchkeepers in the operations rooms, or "comcens" (an abbreviation for communications centres) at UDR bases.

The term "Ulsterisation" was coined by the media. The then Assistant Chief Constable of the RUC, Jack Hermon, summed it up when he said, "Ulstermen need to learn to live together and be policed by Ulstermen. If they have to kill, let them kill each other, not English soldiers."

IRA campaign

As the IRA campaign continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the organisation increasingly targeted RUC officers and Ulster Defence Regiment personnel, including when they were off duty.

The regiment was created shortly after the formation of the Provisional IRA. The campaign pursued by the IRA became and remained the major target for anti-terrorist action by the UDR. Although most UDR casualties were ambushed off-duty there were open actions between the regiment and the IRA which varied in style and tactics between the urban setting of Belfast and the rural conditions of what has been referred to as the "Border War".

There were few military style frontal attacks on UDR establishments but some did occur. Most notably that of 2 May 1974 when up to forty IRA men attacked the isolated Deanery at Clogher
Clogher
Clogher is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, south of Omagh. The United Kingdom Census of 2001 recorded a population of 309.-History:...

 which was being used as a base by a company from 8 UDR. A sustained attack lasted for approximately twenty minutes during which the base was hit by rockets, mortars and small-arms fire.

Another method of attack was an ambush on rural roads. Commencing with the detonation of an IED
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...

 which, if successful would knock out one of the two vehicles normally in a patrol (usually the Shorland armoured car because it housed the rapid firing General Purpose Machine Gun), the bomb would be followed up by small arms fire. In some cases the nearest available cover (such as hedgerows) would contain another IED which would be detonated if any soldiers sheltered there. During these actions it was not uncommon to have both side exchanging a high volume of small arms fire.
The IRA developed a number of home-made mortars. Referred to colloquially as barrack-busters
Barrack buster
Barrack buster is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering group of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ....

. These were normally deployed by fixing them to the back of a commercial vehicle such as a builder's lorry. The vehicle would be parked in a position near a barracks and the devices fired by timing device or remote controlled detonator sending large missiles made from gas cylinders into the barracks compound. The largest of these devices used was twelve tubes fired at once at 3 UDR's Kilkeel base "The Abbey" in 1992.

Because the UDR did not live in barracks like the soldiers of conventional regiments but instead lived at home, in many cases with families, they were more vulnerable to off-duty attacks. A number of UDR personnel applied for and were issued with personal weapons. Some of these were stolen without resistance from members homes. The part time cadre tended to be most at risk as they had day jobs which often took them to unsafe areas. Most of the UDR personnel killed in the Troubles were killed off duty.

Casualties

Between 1 April 1970 and 30 June 1992, a total of 197 soldiers were killed as active servicemen. Another 61 members were killed after they had left the UDR. Three members of the UVF and one of the UDA killed during the conflict were also soldiers of the regiment at the time of their deaths.

Two UDR soldiers were killed by the regular army, three by loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...

 paramilitaries, and the remaining 192 by republican paramilitaries (mainly the Provisional IRA). Four Greenfinches were killed during the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

, Private Eva Martin, L/Cpl Jean Leggett, Cpl Heather Kerrigan and Pte Margaret A. Hearst.

During this time members of the UDR were responsible for the killing of six civilians and two members of the IRA.

Structure

Unlike the B Specials, who were controlled by the Stormont administration in Belfast, the new regiment would be under the direct command of the General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...

 (GOC) Northern Ireland, the commander of the British Army in Northern Ireland. Throughout the existence of the regiment, policy was decided in conjunction with a six-man committee (three Protestant and three Catholic) chaired by the Colonel Commandant
Colonel Commandant
Colonel Commandant is a military title used in the armed forces of some English-speaking countries. The title, not a substantive rank, could denote a senior colonel with authority over fellow colonels...

. Its brief was "to advise the G.O.C. General Officer Commanding, Northern Ireland, on general policy for the administration of the Ulster Defence Regiment, in particular on recruitment policy; and on such specific matters as the G.O.C. might refer to the Council."
A working committee was then set up at Army Headquarters, Northern Ireland (HQNI) under the chairmanship of Major General A. J. Dyball. The team also included a staff officer from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in London, a member of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Stormont) and Lieutenant Colonel S Miskimmon, the USC staff officer to the RUC. As a result of their discussions they advocated a strength of 6,000 men (2,000 more than the Hunt recommendations), combat dress for duties, a dark green parade uniform, county shoulder titles and a "red hand of Ulster
Red Hand of Ulster
The Red Hand of Ulster is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster. It is less commonly known as the Red Hand of O'Neill. Its origins are said to be attributed to the mythical Irish figure Labraid Lámh Dhearg , and appear in other mythical tales passed down from generation...

" cap badge. The rank of "volunteer" was suggested for private soldiers. They also recommended that each battalion should have a mobile force of two platoons equipped with Land Rover
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...

s fitted for radio and that they would also carry "manpack" radio sets.

After presentation to the Ministry of Defence, a Government White Paper was produced which confirmed the agreed aspects of the new force and its task as:
The force would be commanded by a regular army brigadier. Battalions were to be commanded by "local members of the force".
Seven battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

s were initially raised, making it the largest infantry regiment in the British Army. Two years later, four more battalions were added, taking the total to eleven. Until 1976 the full-time cadre consisted only of a "conrate" (so called because they had a "consolidated rate of pay") whose duties consisted of guarding UDR bases and carrying out administrative tasks. It was then decided to expand the role of the regiment by raising full-time platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

s to perform duties on a twenty-four hour basis. The first of these was raised at 2 UDR under the command of a sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

. By the end of the 1970s the full-time cadre had been raised to sixteen platoons. As these "Operations Platoons" were expanded to company strength, eventually the conrate role was phased out with full-time UDR soldiers undertaking their own guard duties and administration.

The regiment was described in 1972 as:
"Organised into 11 Battalions and 59 companies: there are two battalions in Belfast and the remainder cover county or sub-county areas. Seven of the eleven Battalions are commanded by Regular Commanding Officers. In addition the Training Majors, Quartermaster, Regimental Sergeant Majors, Chief Clerks, and Signaller NCOs are also Regulars. There are a number of 'Conrate' (full time UDR) posts in each unit, including Adjutants, Permanent Staff Instructors, Security Guards, etc. Many of the officer and senior rank Conrates are ex-Regulars. The remainder are part-timers. Their main tasks are guarding key points, patrolling, and surveillance, and manning Vehicle Check Points. They do not operate in the 'hard' areas of Belfast, and are not permitted to become involved in crowd confrontations anywhere. Men are armed with self-loading rifles or sub-machine guns. The current strength of the Regiment is 7910."

The full-time element of the regiment eventually expanded to encompass more than half the total personnel. The UDR was the first infantry regiment in the British Army to fully integrate women into its structure, when Greenfinches (so-called because of the code-name used to identify them by radio took over clerical and signals duties, which allowed male members of the regiment to return to patrol duties. Greenfinches accompanied many patrols so that female suspects could be searched.

By 1990, the regiment had stabilised its numbers at 3,000 part-time and 3,000 full-time soldiers, with 140 attached regular army personnel in key command and training positions. The standard of training of the permanent cadre soldiers by this time was so high that they were used in much the same way as regular soldiers and it was not uncommon for regular army units to then come under local command and control of a UDR Battalion Headquarters.

Uniform

On operational duty male members of the regiment dressed in a similar fashion to regular army units. Camouflage jackets were worn and headgear was a distinctive green beret with a gold coloured "Maid of Erin" style harp, surmounted by the Royal crown (in later years this was dulled down by blackening). Female "Greenfinch" members wore rifle green skirts and combat jackets with the UDR beret and cap badge. For ceremonial occasions the men wore the standard British Army No.2 Dress uniform (also called Service Dress). The female "best dress" was a rifle green jacket and skirt. The beret was retained as headgear. (The badge was a direct copy of the Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...

 cap badge with the motto removed from its base). On the formation of Operations Platoons, narrow coloured slides were adopted and worn on the shoulder straps in battalion colours which indicated these were full time soldiers to the trained eye. These were dispensed with as the Operations Platoons were merged into full time rifle companies. Rank was the same as the conventional ranks for infantry NCOs and officers
British Army officer rank insignia
-Origins:The first British Army rank insignia were introduced in 1760. According to the Royal Clothing Warrant, General Officers were distinguished by the pattern and arrangement of laces on the cuff.Badges for field officers were first introduced in 1810...

 and the insignia was worn in the same fashion.

Due to equipment and uniform shortages the early image of the regiment was of a rag-tag bunch using World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 weaponry, old army uniforms and carrying pockets full of loose change in order to make reports from public telephone boxes. Many of the soldiers were veterans of earlier campaigns with the British Army or had been in the Special Constabulary and were middle-aged, this earned them the public nickname of "Dad's Army" after the sobriquet given to the Home Guard during World War II. Separate reports from the army's "Soldier Magazine" from 1970 and 1977 illustrate the differences in age and weaponry.

Armaments

The most familiar weapon associated with the regiment was the standard issue L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle
L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle
The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, also known by the Canadian Army designation C1, as the SLR, or as the "inch pattern" FAL,especially on the American surplus market is a British Commonwealth derivative of the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle, produced under licence...

, referred to as the "SLR". Other weaponry was available however such as; the 9 mm Browning pistol
Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized...

, the Sterling sub machine gun
Sterling submachine gun
The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun which was in service with the British Army from 1944 until 1994, when it was phased out with the introduction of the L85A1 assault rifle.-History:...

, the L4A4 Light Machine Gun
Bren
The Bren, usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991...

 and the L7A2 General Purpose Machine Gun
FN MAG
The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries, and it has been made under licence in countries such as Argentina, Egypt, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the...

. Small stocks of Federal Riot Guns
Riot gun
A riot gun or less-lethal launcher is a type of firearm that is used to fire "non-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots. Less-lethal launchers may be special purpose firearms designed for riot control use, or standard firearms, usually shotguns and grenade launchers, adapted to...

 were also kept. These were used to fire plastic bullet
Plastic bullet
A plastic bullet or plastic baton round is a non-lethal projectile fired from a specialised gun. Although designed as a non-lethal weapon they have still caused several deaths. They are generally used for riot control...

s to knock down doors and other obstacles during search operations. A small number of Carl Gustav
Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
The Carl Gustav is the common name for the 84 mm man-portable reusable multi-role recoilless rifle produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics in Sweden...

 84 mm grenade launchers were also kept but rarely deployed as the weapon was unsuited to most operations. (see Boat Sections below). SLRs were replaced in 1987 by the SA80
SA80
The SA80 is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated assault rifle. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994....

.

For personal protection off duty, some members were issued with a Walther PPK. Major Ken Maginnis
Ken Maginnis, Baron Maginnis of Drumglass
Kenneth Wiggins Maginnis, Lord Maginnis of Drumglass is a Northern Irish Ulster Unionist politician who sits in the House of Lords...

 acquired permission for some UDR soldiers to purchase Browning 9mm
Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized...

 pistols at £200 each. These were deemed to be more effective. In the late 1980s the PPK was replaced by the Walther P5
Walther P5
The Walther P5 is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol developed in the mid-1970s by the German small arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. It was designed with the German police forces in mind, who sought to replace existing 7.65mm pistols with a modern service sidearm incorporating enhanced...

 which was considered a more practical weapon because of its size and ballistic capabilities. Where a soldier was considered to be at high risk he would be permitted to hold his rifle at home in addition to his personal protection handgun. This policy was known as "weapons out" and was reduced by 75% when the more modern SLR replaced the No4 Lee Enfield in 1973 due to the high number of rifles stolen by paramilitaries.

Most of the stolen weapons were taken by loyalist gangs but a number of soldiers lost their lives when confronted by members of the IRA who had entered their homes by force to steal rifles. The "weapons out" policy was eventually discontinued on the introduction of the SA80 rifle.

Transport

The standard patrol vehicle was the 3/4 ton Land Rover used extensively throughout the British armed forces. Following withdrawal from police service a number of Shorland armoured car
Shorland armoured car
The Shorland is an armoured car that was designed specifically for the Royal Ulster Constabulary by a police support officer Ernie Lusty during the sixties for patrolling the border to prevent organised smuggling. They were reallocated to the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1970...

s were allocated to the regiment but these were rarely used after initial service because the turret was designed to hold a General Purpose Machine Gun which was deemed unsuitable for urban use due to its rapid rate of fire and tendency to be inaccurate. The Shorland was not popular with soldiers who used it due to its instability on the road because of the heavy turret although some battalions continued to use them into the 1980s in border areas because of the increased protection the plate armour gave over the Makrolon polycarbonate
Polycarbonate
PolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...

 armour fitted to Land Rovers. Three-ton and four-ton Bedford trucks were used for large troop movements. A range of unmarked civilian cars and vans was also used for staff, administration and covert activities.

The Ulster Defence Regiment was also deployed by helicopters supplied by either the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 or Army Air Corps for rapid insertion or for duties in border areas where it was unsafe or unwise to use wheeled transport.

Communications

At first there were not enough radios to issue to each patrol and those which were available were of the PYE "Bantam" type used by the police, which did not have a great enough effective range. As a result UDR patrols were issued with pockets of small change to use in telephone boxes in order to effectively report back to base. When radios were issued they were of the type used by the regular army such as Larkspur A41 manpacks, B47 and C42 vehicle mounted sets. Over time these were replaced with "Stornophones" as vehicle sets which had preselected frequencies operating on the NINET rebroadcast system which worked through masts strategically placed on various highpoints throughout Northern Ireland such as Slieve Croob
Slieve Croob
Slieve Croob is the tallest of a group of peaks in the middle of County Down, Northern Ireland. These peaks lie north of the Mourne Mountains, between the village of Dromara and the town of Castlewellan. Slieve Croob has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

. Pyephones continued to be used for foot patrols but the range of these sets gradually improved. Each battalion was able to communicate with other battalions using C42's and B47's installed in the battalion or company Operations Room or Communications Centre (Comcen) as well as the BID system of cryptic coding and "scrambled telephone system."

Fast boats

Several battalions were supplied with rigid Dory craft for patrolling waterways shared with the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 in an attempt to prevent gun running across these narrow channels (such as Carlingford Lough
Carlingford Lough
Carlingford Lough is a glacial fjord or sea inlet that forms part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore is County Down and on its southern shore is County Louth...

). Assisted by land based radar, these fast boats were armed with General Purpose Machine Guns and carried a Carl Gustav
Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
The Carl Gustav is the common name for the 84 mm man-portable reusable multi-role recoilless rifle produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics in Sweden...

 84mm anti tank weapon in addition to the rifles and sub-machine guns normally carried by soldiers. After a report submitted by 3 UDR in 1972 HQ Northern Ireland requested a navy patrol vessel to be permanently stationed in the centre of Carlingford Lough to assist with suppression of gun-running. This suggestion was adopted and to the end of the security situation a small warship was on station off the coast off the Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint
Warrenpoint is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town sprang up within the townland of Ringmackilroy...

/Rostrevor
Rostrevor
Rostrevor is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the Newry and Mourne District Council area. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough. The Kilbroney River flows through the village....

 shoreline. This intervention was called Operation Grenada. Gun-running across these coastal estuaries ceased as a result.

Dogs

Search dogs were originally provided by the regular army but eventually a UDR dog section was formed to provide more immediate assistance in search operations.

Information cards

All members of the British Armed Forces, including the UDR, carried a number of small information cards to assist in the execution of their duties in Northern Ireland. These were generally referred to by their colour.
The Yellow Card
Rules of engagement
Rules of Engagement refers to those responses that are permitted in the employment of military personnel during operations or in the course of their duties. These rules of engagement are determined by the legal framework within which these duties are being carried out...

 was a list of the rules for opening fire.
The Blue Card was a detailed explanation of how arrests were to be made.
The White Card was to be given to next of kin or other appropriate person in the event of an arrest of a suspect.
The Green Card carried instructions on how to deal with accidental cross-border incursion into the Irish Republic and subsequent arrest by Irish security forces.
The Red Card contained instructions on how to summon helicopter support and the drills for entering and leaving helicopters.

The Yellow Card was seen as particularly important and all soldiers were taught to be entirely familiar with its content as it contained specific instructions to be followed when opening fire on a suspected enemy. Warnings were to be issued to allow suspects to surrender. Soldiers could only shoot without warning when: "if there is no other way to protect themselves or those whom it is their duty to protect from the danger of being killed or seriously injured."

Greenfinches

In the early days of the regiment female members of the Royal Military Police
Royal Military Police
The Royal Military Police is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.Members of the RMP are generally known as...

 accompanied patrols when available to enable female suspects to be searched. There were never enough of these RMP searchers so in 1973 an act was passed in Parliament to recruit women into the regiment for this purpose. On 16 August 1973 a regular army officer from the Women's Royal Army Corps
Women's Royal Army Corps
The Women's Royal Army Corps was the corps to which all women in the British Army except medical, dental and veterinary officers and chaplains and nurses belonged from 1949 to 1992.-History:The...

, Major Eileen Tye, took up the post of "Commander Women" at HQUDR. By September 352 had been enrolled and the first enlistments were carried out at 2 UDR's HQ in Armagh on the 16th.

Uniforms were a problem as the only available clothing was mostly ATS
Auxiliary Territorial Service
The Auxiliary Territorial Service was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War...

 surplus from WWII but this was resolved in time although many women were unhappy with the semi-formal skirts and knee length boots which had to be worn in all weathers. The women soldiers also wore a silk cravat in their battalion colour.

WO2 Brooker from the WRAC was assigned to train the women in a one week course consisting of drill, army organisation, map reading, searching of women and vehicles, radio procedure and basic first aid.

The first recruits were largely from the executive professional classes which was unusual because it was the males from those social types who were most reluctant to join the UDR. Some were wives of serving UDR soldiers and others were married to soldiers on long-term (accompanied) posting to Northern Ireland.

The country and border battalions welcomed the use of women as they knew they were an essential in the searching of women suspects but the city based battalions were slower to see the advantages and to some extent resented the presence of the women soldiers. In the short-term however all battalions came to appreciate the value of having women with patrols. Through time the role of women was expanded as it was realised that their higher pitched voices were more suited to radio transmission than men. They were tasked to relieve RMP women at the city centre segment gates in Belfast and soon learned how to accept abuse from the public and how to avoid traps which could be set for them when searching other women; i.e. razor blades placed in pockets. Women had fewer problems with the male public who seemed more amenable when questioned by a female. Some women were trained in the use of "Sea Watch" radar to assist seaborne patrols from those battalions which had fast boats.

Initially a part time female officer was appointed in each battalion to supervise the women soldiers but through time the women came under command of the OC of the company they were assigned to. In later years some women became battalion adjutants and company commanders and some were attached to brigade staffs throughout Northern Ireland.

Accommodation for changing and toilet facilities was another problem faced early on and it took several years for the all male environments of UDR bases to adapt their infrastructure to suit female needs.

The recruitment of women soldiers peaked in 1986 with 286 permanent cadre and 530 part timers but the establishment never dropped below 700 from 1978 onwards.

Women were never armed on duty, although some were permitted to be issued (or purchased) personal protection pistols if they were considered to be at high risk. They were however trained in the use of weapons and HQUDR ran a women's .22 shooting competition. Although women in the British Army carry weapons now this change did not happen until after the UDR was merged with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992.

The same issues which affected other servicewomen also affected UDR Greenfinches. Rules regarding pregnancy, marriage and pay. Early recruits with children had to provide a signed certificate stating that their children were properly supervised whilst they were on duty.

The name Greenfinch applied to the women's UDR comes from the system of radio "appointment titles" used by the army to identify certain people or branches of the service. For example; bomb disposal officers were referred to as "Felix", infantry as "Foxhound". New titles were introduced when the UDR was established and soldiers in the regiment were identified as "Greentop". When women were introduced the appointment title "Greenfinch" was assigned to them and became their working nickname. It is still applied today to women in the Royal Irish Regiment.

The integration of women into the UDR paved the way for the disbandment of the Women's Royal Army Corps and the integration of women into previously male only regiments.

Four Greenfinches were killed as a result of their service with the regiment between 1974 and 1992.

Training

According to John Potter, 25% of the new recruits in 1970 had no previous military or Special Constabulary experience. Training was done by a training team of regular soldiers attached to each unit headed up by a Training Major, assisted by former instructors from the armed forces who were recruits themselves.

The annual training commitment for each soldier was twelve days and twelve, two hour training periods. Part of the twelve days included attendance at annual training camp. As an incentive to achieve this, any soldier who fulfilled his training was given an annual bounty of £25. Training days also attracted a pay but this was on a lesser scale than that given for an operational duty.

As with all military recruits, training started with an introduction to basic battle skills and the book of the same name which, where possible, was issued to each individual soldier. Instruction was also given on army pamphlet Shoot to Kill.

Part-time UDR soldiers were required to attend an annual camp for a seven-day period.
  • Warcop
    Warcop
    Warcop is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is near the A66 road and is north of Kirkby Stephen.It had its own railway station, Warcop railway station from 1862 to 1962...

    , Cumbria
    Cumbria
    Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

    , England
  • Lydd and Hythe
    Lydd
    Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the Marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh...

    , Cinque Ports
    Cinque Ports
    The Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. It lies at the eastern end of the English Channel, where the crossing to the continent is narrowest...

    , England
  • Wathgill, England
  • Otterburn
    Otterburn Training Area
    The Otterburn Army Training Estate was established in 1911 and covers about 230 square kilometres of the Southern Cheviots. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence , and used for training some 30,000 soldiers a year...

    , England
  • Thetford
    Thetford
    Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...

    , England

  • Barry Buddon, Scotland

  • Ballykinler
    Ballykinler
    Ballykinler or Ballykinlar is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies 12 kilometres south west of Downpatrick, in the parish of Tyrella and Dundrum. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 348 people. It is within the Down District Council area.It is a linear settlement running...

    , Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

  • Magilligan
    Magilligan
    Magilligan peninsula lies in the northwest of County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, at the entrance to Lough Foyle...

    , Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland
    Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...


Rates of pay

1970
Rank Pay
Unmarried Private 1st Class with less than 6 years experience £2. 19 shillings (£2 19/-)
Corporal £3. 3 shillings (£3 3/-)
Sergeant £3. 12 shillings (£3 12/-)
Captain £5. 6 shillings (£5 6/-)
Major £7. 2 shillings (£7 2/-)

Rank

Prior to the formation of the regiment one of the major issues facing Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...

 was finding officers of enough seniority to appoint as battalion commanders. The result was that for the first year each battalion was commanded by the former County Commandant of the Ulster Special Constabulary. This was only ever intended to be a temporary measure as one of the issues of command and control was to have an officer of field rank
Field officer
A field officer is an army, marine, or air force commissioned officer senior in rank to a company officer but junior to a general officer; in some navies, it is an officer who is a Lieutenant Commander, Commander, or Captain....

 from the regular army in charge of each battalion. The normal rank for this position being Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

. Using B Special officers was neither politically expedient or practical because, although some of these men had previous military experience, some didn't and the criteria for joining was expressly stated as "suitability for military service". To have B Specials battalion commanders hearkened back to the B Specials itself and the absolute danger was that their appointment would act as a deterrent to Catholics who might otherwise have joined the regiment but would be put off by the presence of B Specials.

As the ranks moved down the command structure the problem became more acute. For each battalion there was a minimum requirement of:
  • 1 Lt Col
  • 6 Majors
  • 7 Captains
  • 25 Lieutenants
  • 1 RSM
  • 7 Warrant Officers 2nd Class (WO2)
  • 25 Sergeants
  • 25 Corporals
  • 25 Lance Corporals


Finding senior officers and NCO's with enough experience to do the job was difficult and had the same result as with commanding officers. These posts were generally filled by older men who had previous military experience or by former B Specials officers.

On allocating rank to Corporals and Lance Corporals there was little structure. In some cases the men elected their own NCO's because of a particular standing in the community, in others they fell by default to ex-servicemen or to former B Specials officers with the experience to carry out the tasks of the rank.

The dependency on former B Specials was unsettling for Catholic recruits, offset in some circumstances by the fact that Catholic ex-Servicemen were given positions of rank because they had the experience. This led to unusual situations such as patrols of former B Specials men being led by a Catholic sergeant or as in the case of 3 UDR, patrols which were 100% Catholic being led by a former B Special as their sergeant.

Commanders of the UDR

  • Brigadier Logan Scott-Bowden
    Logan Scott-Bowden
    Major General Leonard Scott-Bowden CBE DSO MC and bar was a British army officer.-Early life:Scott-Bowden was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria on 21 February 1920. He was the son of Lt.Col. Jonathan Scott-Bowden, OBE, TD, and Mary Scott-Bowden ....

     CBE DSO
    Distinguished Service Order
    The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

     OBE
    Order of the British Empire
    The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

     MC
    Military Cross
    The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

     and Bar
    Medal bar
    A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...

     (first Commander UDR)* (1970–1971)
  • Brigadier Denis Ormerod (First Catholic Commander) (1971–1973)
  • Brigadier Harry Baxter CBE GM
    George Medal
    The George Medal is the second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.The GM was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. At this time, during the height of The Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage...

     (First Irish Commander - Kilkenny born, also 2nd Colonel Commandant) (1973–1976)
  • Brigadier Mervyn McCord (1976–1978)
  • Brigadier MA David E Millar OBE (joint author of "The Way ahead" Ulsterisation
    Ulsterisation
    Ulsterisation refers to one part 'primacy of the police' of a three part strategy by the British Government to pacify Northern Ireland during the conflict known as The Troubles...

     document) (1978–1980)
  • Brigadier Pat Hargrave (1980–1982)
  • Lieutenant General Sir Peter Graham
    Peter Graham (British Army officer)
    Lieutenant General Sir Peter Walter Graham KCB CBE was General Officer Commanding Scotland.-Military career:Brought up in Fyvie in Aberdeenshire and educated at St Paul's School in London and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Graham was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders in 1956...

     (1982–1984)
  • Brigadier Roger Preston (1984–1986)
  • Brigadier Michael RN Bray CBE (author of the Bray Reforms) (1986–1988)
  • Brigadier Charles Ritchie (1988–1990)
  • Brigadier Angus Ramsay (1990–1992)

Colonel Commandants

  • General Sir John Anderson
    John Anderson (British Army officer)
    General Sir John D'Arcy Anderson GBE KCB DSO was a British Army General who reached high office in the 1960s.-Military career:Anderson was commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1929...

     GCB
    Order of the Bath
    The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

    , KCB
    Order of the Bath
    The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

     DSO
    Distinguished Service Order
    The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

     (5 Innis DG) (1st Colonel Commandant)

Notable personnel

:Category:Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers
:Category:Ulster Defence Regiment officers

Infiltration by paramilitaries

Since its formation, in 1970, the regiment was criticized for bias during The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. The regiment was infiltrated by, and colluded with, paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....

 groups. Weapons assigned to the regiment reported as stolen did reappear during sectarian violence. At various times during its history, official action was taken to try to address the criticisms.

Unlike soldiers from the regular Army, the UDR did not live in barracks. Many lived in Protestant or Catholic enclaves which Potter notes, put them within easy reach of paramilitary or community groups within those areas. The years 1972-73 saw the emergence of paramilitary threats from loyalists and of the 288 incidents of intimidation reported, Potter records, all but twelve were from Protestants who had been threatened from within their own community. Sometimes this was to gain information, he suggests, or to persuade members of the regiment to join (or remain within) Protestant organisations. The intimidation he says, included incidents of threatening letters and phone calls, abduction, shots fired from passing cars and off-duty soldiers being assaulted.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...

 called for the disbandment of the regiment from as early as 1974 through the media and by applying pressure through the Irish government and was Potter suggests, to become the major conduit for complaints against the regiment from Catholics. The SDLP remained opposed he says to the regiment and continually called for its disbandment due to the failure of the GOC to address the issue of Catholic recruiting and the regimental image. Although no official support was evident he says from the party leaderships various party members (for example Seamus Mallon
Seamus Mallon
Seamus Frederick Mallon born 17 August 1936, in Markethill, County Armagh, is an Irish politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland...

), did condemn the killing of UDR soldiers and attended their funerals, such as in the case of James Cochrane, a Catholic soldier from 3 UDR in Downpatrick who was killed in a culvert bomb attack on 6 January 1980.

In the wake of the Hillsborough Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...

 the Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

 (DUP) began a campaign with the apparent motive Potter says, of reducing morale in the regiment and causing mass resignations by "undermining the confidence of soldiers in their officers". During this period Potter notes, Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

 announced to the press that soldiers in Ballymena
Ballymena
Ballymena is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and the seat of Ballymena Borough Council. Ballymena had a population of 28,717 people in the 2001 Census....

 had been requested to report to barracks to be disarmed prior to the part-time cadre being disbanded. The DUP press office he says, claimed that the use of English officers and senior NCOs
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...

 was "London and Dublin insisting the UDR could not be trusted". and Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson (politician)
Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

, the deputy DUP Leader, advised soldiers not to co-operate with policemen who were attached to their patrols as they were there on the "directions of the Anglo-Irish Council".

Potter believed this political manoeuvring wasn't for the "good of the UDR" but an attempt to make the DUP the "main voice of the Protestant people" and in an effort to address criticisms, the UDR Advisory council decided to hold briefings for the four main political parties at HQUDR. Invitations were issued to the Official Unionist party, the Alliance Party, the DUP and the SDLP he noted but the DUP didn't attend any briefings however the other three parties did.

At the funeral of a member of 2 UDR in Caledon
Caledon
Caledon can refer to:* Caledon, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland* Caledon, Ontario in Canada* Caledon River in South Africa* Caledon, Western Cape, a town in South Africa* Caledon Bay in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia....

, the Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh
The Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland...

, Dr Robin Eames
Robin Eames
Robin Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames OM was the Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.-Education:...

 made an oration to the congregation which included the words:
"....It [the regiment] has received criticism, often from those far removed from the dangers it faces, which has been far from fair or objective. In its increasingly professional approach to its work its members must never forget their duty to all members of the community, irrespective of political or religious outlooks. But the community must never forget what the UDR is doing day and night for it."


The UDR had a problem throughout its history with infiltration of its structures by loyalist paramilitaries. Initially, dual membership of the UDR and Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...

 (UDA) was acceptable to the military authorities as the UDA was not seen as a threat to the state. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), an illegal organisation, also exploited membership of the UDR and its potential for circulating intelligence files on the nationalist community throughout its ranks. Since the beginning of the The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

 the best source of weapons and the only significant source of modern weapons for loyalist paramilitary groups has been the UDR. In 1972 alone 190 UDR weapons, including 140 SLR rifles were allegedly lost. The vast majority of the weapons were in the hands of loyalist paramilitary groups. In the early years of the regiment's history loyalist paramilitaries raided (or were given access to) several UDR barracks and were able to steal substantial quantities of modern weaponry. Most of these weapons were subsequently recovered in follow up operations by the security forces but some were proven to have been used by loyalist organisations to carry out sectarian crime, including murders. A number of UDR soldiers were convicted of assisting paramilitaries by providing information to enable these raids to take place.

Loyalist raids were mounted against 2 UDR, 3 UDR, 5 UDR, 7 UDR, 10 UDR, and 11 UDR battalions. In a raid against 2 UDR's Lurgan company (which later became C Coy, 11 UDR), the guard commander was later charged and convicted of supplying information to loyalists. He was later killed in 1975 during an internal Ulster Volunteer Force feud.

Two soldiers from the 11th Battalion's C Company in Lurgan, who were also members of the UVF, were convicted of the 1975 killing of three members of the Irish cabaret band
Irish showband
The Irish Showband was a dance band format which was popular in Ireland during the early rock and roll era from mid 1950s to the late 1970s. The showband was based on the internationally popular six or seven piece dance band. The band's basic repertoire included standard dance numbers and cover...

, the Miami Showband
Miami Showband killings
The Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...

 in a UVF attack. In the same attack two members of the UDR Portadown company, Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle was a Ulster Defence Regiment soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force , a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which left a total of 33 people dead...

 and Wesley Somerville, who were also UVF men died in the premature explosion of the bomb they had planted in the group's minibus. In 1999 David Jordan, a former UDR soldier, allegedly broke down in a bar and admitted to being part of a patrol that killed nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

 councillor Patsy Kelly
Patsy Kelly
Patsy Kelly was an American stage and film comedic actress.-Early life and career:Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrants, John and Delia Kelly, and made her Broadway debut in 1928...

 in 1974. Jordan also implicated former DUP Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...

 member Oliver Gibson
Oliver Gibson
Oliver Gibson is a founding member of the Democratic Unionist Party .Gibson is a retired DUP councillor for West Tyrone. He also served as an MLA for West Tyrone in the first session of the Assembly...

 in the killing.

In 1989, twenty-eight UDR soldiers from the same platoon 7/10 UDR were arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary as part of the Stevens Inquiry. Six of those arrested were later awarded damages over their arrests however only one was charged with activities linked to paramilitaries. This caused "intense anger" in the regiment according to Potter as three hundred police had been used to surround the homes. In doing so Stevens had identified the soldiers as members of the UDR to their neighbours, putting their lives at risk. Eleven soldiers moved house as a result and the homes of eighteen others were provided with "additional security measures" at a cost of £25,000.

In June 1987 the Belfast Newsletter reported, that 7/10 UDR had been infiltrated by the IRA. Private Joe Tracey had been shot dead as he started a new job on some flats off the Lisburn Road, Belfast. The UDR, according to Potter, accepted that someone must have informed on him but denied that the IRA had been able to penetrate the battalion calling the allegation a "wild rumour".

Another incident cited by Potter involved William Bogle of 6 UDR who was ambushed and killed on 5 December 1972 at Killeter
Killeter
Killeter is a small village and townland near Castlederg in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 147.Killeter has a yearly August fair, which celebrates the diversity and richness of rural life. The village itself sits along an ancient pilgrimage trail which...

 near the Tyrone/Donegal border. Potter says that he was killed by a former member of his own company "possessed of strong Republican views" and that after the shooting the suspect moved across the border and is not known to have returned to Northern Ireland.

On 29 November 1972, the GOCNI, on instructions from Westminster, announced that dual membership of UDR and paramilitary organisations would not be tolerated and began a purge which saw a thousand members forced to resign from the UDR. Lt Col Dion Beard (1RTR
1st Royal Tank Regiment
The 1st Royal Tank Regiment is an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. It was originally formed as 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Corps in 1934....

) commander of 3 UDR issued a battalion order: "I will not tolerate any active participation by members of this battalion in any organisation which encourages violence... you cannot play in both teams. Either you believe in law and order applied equally to all men, or you believe in violence as a means of achieving political ends. In this respect the UDA is no better than IRA. Not only should you take no part in UDA activities but you should discourage your fellow citizens [from doing so]."
  • The Bray reforms

Brigadier Michael Bray adopted a zero-tolerance policy from the beginning of his tenure as Commander UDR. He instituted a number of safeguards including monitoring of entire battalions and six month security reviews of all UDR personnel. Anyone found with even the most tenuous links to Protestant organisations was dismissed from the regiment. An "Out-of-bounds" list was produced which included pubs and clubs known to be frequented by Protestant paramilitaries. Members of the regiment were cautioned as to whom they should socialise with. All of this was a concerted effort to remove anyone with dual membership from the regiment and to prevent peer pressure
Peer pressure
Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...

 being applied.
  • The Stevens Enquiry

The Stevens Report
Stevens Report
The Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces...

 resulted in a tightening of control on even the most low-rated intelligence documents and heightened accountability. For the first time the RUC were given access to UDR vetting procedures and many members of the regiment found themselves under police observation for extended periods of time, in some cases resulting in the expulsion of soldiers. Stevens agreed that there had been collusion between a small number of UDR soldiers who had "gravely abused their positions of trust" but that the issue was not "widespread or institutionalised".
  • The Bennett Report

As working conditions and wages improved in the regiment many young people Potter suggests, saw it as an alternative to unemployment rather than just a means of expressing their wish to defend Northern Ireland. Professionalism expanded and there was less tolerance of members with dual membership. The Bennett Committee report of 1989 stressed this acutely and recommended that the regiment be disbanded. A view echoed by Lord Hunt
John Hunt, Baron Hunt
Brigadier Henry Cecil John Hunt, Baron Hunt KG, PC, CBE, DSO, was a British army officer who is best known as the leader of the successful 1953 British Expedition to Mount Everest.-Early life and career:...

 who had made the original recommendation for the formation of the force. In Hunt's view the times had changed, the regiment's role was no longer required, and it was a time to return the duties of the UDR to the police.
  • Anglo-Irish Agreement

Some suggestions were made as a result of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement:
  • An RUC officer to accompany each patrol.
  • The part time element to be discontinued.
  • The removal of powers of arrest.
  • Restriction to operations carried out in support of the RUC.
  • A more professional officer corps and better numbers of experienced NCO's.


As a result of these recommendations the post of Deputy Commander UDR was restored, ten additional senior NCO's were posted in from the regular army, officer training was increased to six months at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

. According to Potter, efforts were made to increase the number of RUC officers on patrol with the UDR and the initial training for part-time soldiers was increased from eight to fourteen days. In his memoirs Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

 Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald
Garret FitzGerald was an Irish politician who was twice Taoiseach of Ireland, serving in office from July 1981 to February 1982 and again from December 1982 to March 1987. FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and was subsequently elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 1969. He...

 noted that by 1986 there had been "a notable reduction in complaints of harassment of the Nationalist community by the security forces".

On 1 January every year the The National Archives (TNA) —formerly this was done by the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...

 (PRO) — in Kew releases government documents under the thirty year rule
Thirty year rule
The "thirty year rule" is the popular name given to a law in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia that provides that the yearly cabinet papers of a government will be released publicly thirty years after they were created....

. A draft document, entitled Subversion in the UDR, was amongst documents catalogued as DEFE 24/835, released in 2005 and was uncovered in the PRO by researchers working for the Pat Finucane Centre
Pat Finucane Centre
The Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from nationalists and republicans...

 (PFC) and the group, Justice for the Forgotten. Contents from the document first came to public attention when they appeared as a series of articles in The Irish News
The Irish News
The Irish News is a compact-sized daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is perceived as being broadly Irish nationalist in outlook...

on 2 and 3 May 2006. The document is believed to have been prepared by British military intelligence in August 1973, and explores the issue of overlapping membership between the UDR and loyalist organisations in the early years of the regiment's history.

For the purpose of the paper subversion was considered to include a "strong support for, or membership of, organisations whose aims are incompatible with those of the UDR" and "attempts by UDR members to use their UDR knowledge, skills, or equipment to further the aims of such organisations." The 1973 report stated that an estimated 5-15% of UDR soldiers were directly linked to loyalist paramilitary groups. That the "best single source of weapons, and the only significant source of modern weapons, for Protestant extremist groups was the UDR" and that the British Government knew that UDR weapons were being used by loyalist paramilitaries, including the killing of a Roman Catholic civilian and other attacks.

It estimated that over 200 UDR weapons passed to loyalist paramilitaries by 1973. The authors of the report expressed concern that UDR troops may be loyal to "Ulster" alone, rather than to "Her Majesty's Government".
One case cited as "indicative, but not typical", was that of a member of 1 UDR, described as "a good citizen (the Deputy Chairman of a District Council)". The report explained how he lived a "double life
Double Life
Double Life is a 2-CD compilation album of songs by Värttinä. It includes the entire 6.12 live album, and songs from studio albums Seleniko, Aitara and Ilmatar...

" as the OC
Officer Commanding
The Officer Commanding is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit , principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, the term Commanding Officer is applied to commanders of minor as well as major units.Normally an Officer Commanding is a company, squadron or battery...

 of Ballymena UDA, had obtained ammunition for the UDA and was suspected of illegal arms dealings. He was however, described by his Commanding Officer as "a model soldier".The report accepted that very little was known, from an "intelligence point of view," but that subversion had certainly resulted in arms losses to Protestant groups on a "significant scale", though the rate of loss had decreased by 1973 when the report was written.

The report found less evidence of subversion from Republican paramilitaries. It describes "isolated incidents where Catholic UDR soldiers have 'lost' weapons in suspicious circumstances", but explained that "neither the number of weapons nor the threat is thought to be great". The report concludes that the danger of subversion in the UDR was "enormously heightened" by comparison with other British Army regiments. It considered a number of reasons for this, including the circumstances in which it was set up, the communities from which it recruits, the task it is expected to fulfil and the political circumstances that have prevailed in the first two years of its existence. However, it suggested that any effort to remove members who in the "foreseeable political circumstances" could possibly operate subversively would have resulted in a regiment that was "very small".

UDR killings and crime

Of the 40,000 persons recorded as having served in the UDR from 1970–1992, 18 were later convicted of murder, 11 for manslaughter. The regiment was responsible for the shooting deaths of nine people: three members of the IRA, one loyalist hijacker, two joyriders
Joyride (crime)
To joyride is to drive around in a stolen car, boat, or other vehicle with no particular goal, a ride taken solely for pleasure.In English law, joyriding is not considered to be theft, because the intention to "permanently deprive" the owner of the vehicle cannot be proven...

, an alleged thief, a deaf youth who could not hear the warnings shouted at him, and a man shot accidentally in a confrontation with a patrol. Between 1970 and 1990, 99 were convicted of assault, and others were convicted of armed robbery, weapons offences, bombing, intimidation and attacks on Catholics, kidnapping, and membership in the UVF. Only a small fraction of the regiment were involved in such criminal activities, but the proportion was higher than for the regular British Army or RUC.

Music

Each battalion had a number of pipers and these musicians participated in a centralised pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....

 formally called the Pipes & Drums of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Its uniform followed the traditional military dress for Irish pipers, consisting of a saffron kilt, bottle-green "Prince Charlie" jacket, bottle-green cape and bottle-green caubeen
Caubeen
The caubeen is an Irish beret. It was formerly worn by peasants; however, it has since been adopted as the headdress of the Irish regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies, where its formal name is the "Bonnet, Irish, Green".-Name:...

 adorned with a double-size cap badge. Unlike other Irish regiments in the British Army, UDR pipers did not wear a hackle
Hackle
The hackle is a clipped feather plume that is attached to a military headdress.In the British Army and the armies of some Commonwealth countries the hackle is worn by some infantry regiments, especially those designated as fusilier regiments and those with Scottish and Northern Irish origins. The...

 and the lining colour of the cloaks was unique to the regiment.

In June 1986, the regiment held its only tattoo for two days in good weather at Ravenhill rugby ground
Ravenhill Stadium
Ravenhill Stadium is located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is used by Ulster Rugby. It has a normal capacity of 12,300 and is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union.-History:The grounds were opened in the 1923/24 season...

, Belfast. Some of the attractions for the 12,000 people who attended were:
  • the Red Devils
    Red Devils (Parachute Regiment)
    The Red Devils are the Parachute Regiment's parachute display team. The team wears the distinctive maroon beret. The Red Devils are regular serving paratroopers from the three battalions of the Parachute Regiment who have volunteered to serve on the display team.The team was formed on 1 January...

     parachute team;
  • Greenfinches abseiling from the top of one of the grandstands;
  • UDR dogs;
  • a mock ambush;
  • beating the retreat with the Pipes & Drums of the UDR plus the bands of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment and the RUC.


The crowd is reported to have created a "deeply moving" moment by humming the evening hymn "The Day Thou Givest".

Only one UDR Pipes & Drums recording was publicly released: the 5 UDR Pipes & Drums "Irish & Scottish Pipe Music", which includes recordings of the regimental and battalions marches as well as other popular tunes.

Options for Change and amalgamation

After the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

 the United Kingdom began to reduce the size of its armed forced under the working title of Options for Change
Options for Change
Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in 1990, aimed at cutting defence spending following the end of the Cold War....

. The strength of the army was to be reduced from 160,000 to 110,000; the infantry to reduce from 55 battalions to 38. The GOC saw this as a perfect opportunity to streamline the UDR and also remove some of the more "intractable problems" with regards to image and career prospects. In a revolutionary plan he decided to merge the UDR with the Royal Irish Rangers
Royal Irish Rangers
The Royal Irish Rangers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army.-Creation:...

; in the opinion of one author for the first time in history incorporating part-time soldiers into the regular army. The hope among the top brass in British Army was that the process of amalgamation with the Rangers, coupled with the change of name, would be a fresh start for what he says was a discredited UDR. The Rangers had recruited people from the South of Ireland, many of whom were Catholic and this would aid the process.

"Project Infancy" would also ensure that the Royal Irish Rangers did not lose their training facilities and presence in Northern Ireland as the last Irish infantry battalion of the line. The UDR, which was not regular "line" infantry was, in the words of one commander, "like a fish without feathers". Incorporation as infantry of the line might provide UDR officers with career prospects which mirrored those of the regular army and hopefully resolve the problem of recruiting junior officers. From a political perspective, the Royal Irish Rangers recruited from all over Ireland and had a much higher proportion of serving Catholics, many from the Republic of Ireland. To the GOC the prospect of having a larger number of Catholic officers and NCO's in the UDR would dampen much of the political furore surrounding the regiment.

The plan was approved by early summer 1991 and proposed:
  • The 2 battalions of the Royal Irish Rangers would amalgamate to create a single "General Service" battalion.
  • The existing nine UDR battalions would be reduced to seven and designated "Home Service".
  • The part-time element would remain in the Home Service element but the new structure provided for general reduction when the time was right.
  • The new regiment would be called the Royal Irish Regiment, reusing a name which had been lost as part of the disbandment of many famous Irish infantry regiments on partition in 1922.


In return the UDR would receive:
  • A "royal title".
  • A direct line of succession through the regimental name to the Battle of the Boyne
    Battle of the Boyne
    The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...

     and other battles of the Williamite Wars
    Williamite war in Ireland
    The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...

    .


The proposals were generally welcomed at senior level but there was predictable worry amongst the ranks that this was a precursor to disbandment. A fear exacerbated by the Unionist political parties, particularly the DUP who immediately relaunched their 1989 "Hands Off the UDR" campaign.

Awards, honours and decorations

The most notable award to the Ulster Defence Regiment was the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross is a second level military decoration of the United Kingdom armed forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in the awarding of gallantry decorations...

 made by HM The Queen on 6 October 2006. This unit citation confers the right of the regiment to be known as The Ulster Defence Regiment CGC. During the award ceremony in Belfast the Queen paid tribute to the regiment by saying "Your contribution to peace and stability in Northern Ireland is unique." "Serving and living within the community had required "uncommon courage and conviction". "The regiment had never flinched despite suffering extreme personal intimidation. Their successes had "come at a terrible price, many gave their lives. Today you have cause to reflect on the fine achievements, while remembering the suffering". "The Home Service Battalions of the RIR and the UDR which had preceded them won the deepest respect throughout the land." So that their actions would always be remembered, the CGC was awarded to the RIR/UDR "as a mark of the nation's esteem" with the citation, "This award is in recognition of the continuous operational service and sacrifice of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner."

In total 953 individuals received awards through the British honours system including: 12 Queen's Gallantry Medal
Queen's Gallantry Medal
The Queen's Gallantry Medal is the third level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.It was instituted on 20 June 1974 to replace the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry, the British Empire Medal for Gallantry, and the Colonial Police Medal for Gallantry...

s; 2 Military Medal
Military Medal
The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....

s; 88 BEMs
British Empire Medal
The Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service, usually known as the British Empire Medal , is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown...

; 108 OBEs
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 and 276 Mentions in Despatches, however for most UDR soldiers the presentation of decorations assumed the form of "service" or campaign" medals including:

  • The General Service Medal
    General Service Medal (1962)
    The General Service Medal , was introduced in 1962 to combine the General Service Medal , as awarded to the Army and RAF, and the Naval General Service Medal...

     with "Northern Ireland" bar. (Awarded after 28 days service in the Operation Banner
    Operation Banner
    Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007. It was initially deployed at the request of the Unionist government of Northern Ireland to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary . After the 1998 Belfast Agreement,...

     campaign)
  • The Ulster Defence Regiment Medal
  • Northern Ireland Home Service Medal
  • The Accumulated Campaign Service Medal (Awarded after 1,000 operational (not training) days service in the campaign)
  • The Long Service and Good Conduct Medal


The award of "UDR specific" long service medals had complex rules which meant that not very many were ever issued. The UDR medal was only issued to 1,254 members of the 40,000 who served. Only 1,416 Accumulated Campaign Service medals were issued.

Officers who are awarded the Ulster Defence medal (UD) may use the post-nominal letters UD.

According to Potter "the most decorated UDR soldier" was Corporal Eric Glass of the 4th (Co Fermanagh) Battalion who received both the Queen's Gallantry Medal
Queen's Gallantry Medal
The Queen's Gallantry Medal is the third level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.It was instituted on 20 June 1974 to replace the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry, the British Empire Medal for Gallantry, and the Colonial Police Medal for Gallantry...

 and Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...

 for bravery. Despite being gravely injured in an IRA ambush Glass managed to survive, killing one of his attackers in the process. An account of the attack on Corporal Glass was carried in the Belfast News Letter.

The regiment was unusual in many ways. It was the first to be raised as a paid citizens' army, the first to incorporate women into its regimental structure, the first to serve its own locality and the first to have a dedicated "aftercare" service. When it merged, the UDR had been on active service longer than any regiment since the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

.

In 1987, the regiment submitted a request for the issuing of colours to the Queen which was given consent. This was granted in 1991, when the Queen decided to present the colours herself: an honour which is normally reserved only for those regiments of which she is Colonel in Chief.
  • 29 June 1991 - The first colours were presented by the Queen to five battalions at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn
    Lisburn
    DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...

    .
  • November 1991 - 6 UDR was presented at St Lucia Barracks, Omagh by The Duke of Abercorn
    James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn
    James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, KG , is the current Duke of Abercorn in the Peerage of Ireland, having succeeded his father in June 1979. The son of James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Mary Crichton...

    .
  • April 1992 - The last colours were presented by HRH The Duke of York
    Prince Andrew, Duke of York
    Prince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

     in a ceremony near Edinburgh in April 1992.

Up to May 2010, 232 Elizabeth Cross
Elizabeth Cross
The Elizabeth Cross is a commemorative emblem given to the recognised next of kin of members of the British Armed Forces killed in action or as a result of a terrorist attack after the Second World War...

es and Memorial Scrolls have been issued to the families of UDR personnel whose deaths are officially attributed to their military service.

Up to November 2010, 37 applications linked to UDR personnel for the Elizabeth Cross
Elizabeth Cross
The Elizabeth Cross is a commemorative emblem given to the recognised next of kin of members of the British Armed Forces killed in action or as a result of a terrorist attack after the Second World War...

 have failed due to the following reasons:
  • 22 died of natural causes whilst 'off duty'
  • 7 were killed on road accidents whilst 'off duty'
  • 4 were accidental deaths whilst 'off duty'
  • 2 died outside the Northern Ireland operational area
    Operation Banner
    Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007. It was initially deployed at the request of the Unionist government of Northern Ireland to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary . After the 1998 Belfast Agreement,...

  • 2 died after they were discharged from service.

UDR Memorial

On 12 February 2008, it was announced that Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council is a district council covering an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. The council is the second largest in the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Council headquarters are in the city of Lisburn, upon which was conferred city status in May 2002 as...

 planners had approved the site for a memorial to the UDR to be erected. The report said that the memorial would "recognise the self sacrifice of the soldiers, both men and women, from all traditions of the UK".
On 14 January 2011, it was further announced that the UDR Memorial would be a "19ft monument (that) features a pair of bronze figures on a Mourne granite plinth and is due to be unveiled in Lisburn city centre in the spring. The two bronzes capture the image of a male UDR soldier and a female 'Greenfinch' on operational duty". One of the trustees of the UDR Memorial Trust is Col The Rt Hon the Viscount Brookborough DL.

Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council
Lisburn City Council is a district council covering an area partly in County Antrim and partly in County Down in Northern Ireland. The council is the second largest in the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Council headquarters are in the city of Lisburn, upon which was conferred city status in May 2002 as...

 has entered into a lease with the UDR Memorial Trust in relation to a small portion of land at Market Square, Lisburn. The duration of the lease is for 10,000 years commencing 31 July 2009 and is leased at peppercorn rent. Given the relatively small piece of land being leased, less than 10m2 and the Council is incurring no monetary loss for the lease of the land, no fee was charged. Under the terms of the lease, the UDR Memorial Trust are permitted to use this for the erection of a memorial. The planning, erection and maintenance of the memorial is the responsibility of the UDR Memorial Trust.

The UDR Memorial will be in addition to the UDR Roll of Honour situated beside Lisburn War Memorial, Castle Street, Lisburn that commemorates UDR personnel from the Lisburn
Lisburn
DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...

area who paid the supreme sacrifice.

The memorial group of statues was unveiled on 12 June 2011 by Viscount Brookeborough. It was also acknowledged that "It was unfortunate that there were members who did bad things and we're not trying to hide that. But what we would say is that there's almost 50,000 people who didn't do bad things - who did good things, who were ordinary decent people who wanted to do the best they could for their country." Lt Col Duncan to Utv News.

External links

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