Ulster Defence Regiment - Options For Change and Amalgamation

Options For Change and Amalgamation

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the United Kingdom began to reduce the size of its armed forced under the working title of Options for Change. 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; 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 and other battles of the Williamite Wars.

The proposals were generally welcomed at senior level but there was predictable worry amongst the ranks that this was a precursor to disbandment. This led to protests from the Unionist political parties, particularly the DUP who immediately relaunched their 1989 "Hands Off the UDR" campaign. When it merged in 1992 the UDR had been on active service longer than any regiment since the Napoleonic Wars.