The Rifles

The Rifles will be a British Army Regiment created as a result of the Future Army Structure. It will be formed by the amalgamation of the Light Infantry (which will have absorbed the Devon and Dorset Regiment and the Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment) and the Royal Green Jackets. This will bring the whole of the Light Division under a single capbadge.

The new regiment will have 5 regular and 2 Territorial Army Battalions.

• 1st Battalion, formed from 1st Battalion, the Light Infantry, itself the amalgamation of the Devon and Dorset and Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiments
• 2nd Battalion, formed by the redesignation of 2nd Battalion, the Light Infantry (itself a redesignation of the 1st Battalion)
• 3rd Battalion, formed by the redesignation of 3rd Battalion, the Light Infantry (itself a redesignation of the 2nd Battalion)
• 4th Battalion, formed by the redesignation of 1st Battalion, the Royal Green Jackets
• 5th Battalion, formed by the redesignation of 2nd Battalion, the Royal Green Jackets
• 6th Battalion, formed by the redesignation of the Rifle Volunteers
• 7th Battalion, formed by the redesignation of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, minus the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment company, plus the Royal Green Jacket companies of the London Regiment

The amalgamation of the Devon and Dorsets and Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiments will occur in 2006, and the final amalgamation into The Rifles will occur in 2008.

Sources

• Statement by CO Devon and Dorset Regiment
• Statement by CO Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (Now Offline)
• The Light Infantry Homepage
• BBC Gloucestershire News