Ulster Defence Regiment - Structure

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 (GOC), HQ 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. 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" 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 Rovers fitted for radio and that they would also carry "manpack" radio sets.

After presentation to the Ministry of Defence, a Government White Paper confirmed the agreed aspects of the new force and its task as:

to support the regular forces in Northern Ireland in protecting the border and the state against armed attack and sabotage. It will fulfill this task by undertaking guard duties at key points and installations, by carrying out patrols and by establishing check points and road blocks when required to do so. In practice such tasks are most likely to prove necessary in rural areas. It is not the intention to employ the new forces on crowd control or riot duties in cities.

The force would be commanded by a regular army brigadier. Battalions were to be commanded by "local members of the force".

During its early life these appointments may be filled by present county commandants of the USC, almost all of whom are ex-officers of the regular forces who have had much experience in dealing with the tasks for which the new force is designed.

Seven battalions 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 platoons to perform duties on a twenty-four hour basis. The first of these was raised at 2 UDR under the command of a sergeant. 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.