Royal Scots Borderers

Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS)

I
Cap Badge of the Royal Regiment of Scotland
Active 1 August 2006–
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Branch  British Army
Type Infantry
Role Light Role
Part of 38th (Irish) Brigade
Garrison/HQ Palace Barracks, Holywood
Nickname(s) 1 SCOTS
Motto(s) Nemo me impune lacessit (No One Strikes Me With Impunity)
Commanders
Current
commander		 Lt Col Wight Boycott
Royal Colonel HRH The Princess Royal
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Tartan Government
Royal Stewart (Pipers kilts and plaids)
Hackle Black

The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS) is a light role infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The battalion formed on 1 August 2006 when its antecedent regiments - the Royal Scots and the Kings Own Scottish Borderers - amalgamated as part of the formation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The battalion was based at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh until August 2014 when it was moved to Palace Barracks in Holywood, Northern Ireland.

History

When the Scottish infantry regiments amalgamated to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland on 28 March 2006, the Royal Scots Battalion and the King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion initially maintained their identities as separate battalions.[1]

However almost immediately the Ministry of Defence moved to amalgamate the two battalions. This was not a new idea: the origins of the combined entity, Royal Scots Borderers, dates from the 1990 Options for Change review, when it was initially announced that the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers would amalgamate. That amalgamation was subsequently rescinded.[2] The Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion duly amalgamated on 1 August 2006 – upon their amalgamation, the new battalion took the name The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.[3]

Since the amalgamation, the battalion has been deployed several times both to Iraq on Operation TELIC and to Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK.,[4] most recently to Afghanistan in September 2012 on HERRICK 17 as the Brigade Advisory Group and Operations Company.[5] In September 2014, B Company deployed to Sierra Leone on Operation GRITROCK to help fight the outbreak of Ebola[6] and in September 2015, the 1 SCOTS Battlegroup deployed on Operation TOSCA to Cyprus as part of the ongoing UN peacekeeping operations.[7]

Uniform and traditions

The battalion wears a flat black hackle behind the Royal Regiment of Scotland cap badge on the TOS (Tam o' Shanter) to distinguish itself as the Royal Scots Borderers. It recruits its soldiers from Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh, the Lothians, Borders and parts of Lanarkshire, which was traditionally the recruiting ground of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) until they were disbanded in 1968. The battalion home headquarters and museums are based at Edinburgh Castle for the Royal Scots and Berwick for the King's Own Scottish Borderers. A Company of 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland maintains an affiliation to the 1st Battalion.[8]

Alliances

References

  1. ↑ "Royal Regiment of Scotland". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Royal, Trevor (2011). The King's Own Scottish Borderers: A Concise History.
  3. ↑ "Why the Royal Scots can no longer hold the line". The Telegraph. 10 October 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  4. ↑ 1 SCOTS - Operations
  5. ↑ "1 SCOTS depart on Afghanistan deployment". MoD. 18 September 2012.
  6. ↑ "UK Soldiers Deployed To Ebola Epicentre". Sky News. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "1 SCOTS in UN Cyprus mission". Berwickshire News. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "The Territorial Army". The Royal Scots. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
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