Explore Listing
A total of 144 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment deployed to Bosnia on Operation GRAPPLE with 1 CHESHIRE Battle Group.
Below: Members of B Company, 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment with a Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle in the town of Gornji Vakuf.
On 22 July 1992 A, B and Support Companies deployed to Canada as part of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group to conduct Ex Med Man 3. This training was conducted by the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Alberta close to the town of Medicine Hat and the provincial City of Calgary.
The UNFICYP (United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) was set up by UN Security Council resolution 186 on 4 March 1964 to prevent fighting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Its mission expanded in 1974 following the overthrow of President Archbishop Makarios III by Nikos Sampson, a former EOKA fighter, and his supporters who favoured union with Greece. The Turkish reaction was to declare protection for the Turkish Cypriot community and prevent any Greek union by invading Cyprus and establishing control over the northern part of Cyprus.
In 1975, with the Cold War still at its height, the Soviet Union began deploying SS-20 Sabre intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe with the intent of providing a nuclear first strike capability against NATO tactical nuclear forces. Alarmed by this 'Euromissile Crisis,' which would neutralise NATO's capacity to respond to the overwhelming superiority of the Soviet Bloc's conventional military forces, the NATO powers determined upon their so-called Double-Track Decision.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment mobilized 73 soldiers to reinforce the 1 R IRISH Battlegroup on Operation HERRICK 13 in Afghanistan. Unlike in 2008, and due to the nature of tasking allocated to the Battlegroup, the Reservists on this occasion were used to reinforce Companies of 1 R IRISH rather than deploying as a formed Company.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers moved from Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster to Barrosa Barracks, Deilinghofen, Federal Republic of Germany during September 1974 to relieve 1 R IRISH in role as a Mechanised Infantry Battalion in 6 Armoured Brigade.
The Battalion's families lived mainly in married quarters in the nearby towns of Hemer and Iserlohn.
In June 1993, the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment (2 R IRISH) began the drawn out process of moving manpower from Stornoway Barracks in Lemgo, Germany to 1 R IRISH at Salamanca Barracks, Episkopi Garrison in the United Kingdom’s Western Sovereign Base Area (WSBA) in Cyprus. The process was linked to the manpower of 1 and 2 R IRISH forming a single General Service Battalion of The Royal Irish Regiment.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers moved from Doniford Camp, Somerset to Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster, Wiltshire and assumed the role of Demonstration Battalion for The School of Infantry on 27 February 1972.
Following the coup that removed the Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson, there was considerable unrest both internally and externally as old rivals Greece and Turkey, both controlled by military junta governments, failed to influence the situation internally or restore the status quo in Cyprus. The Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus was first launched on 20 July 1974 with a second post-junta invasion on 14-16 August 1974. Turkey and Greece were both a NATO 'partner' thus placing the UK government in a sensitive situation.
In June 1976, the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers Battle Group, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel D G McCord MBE, deployed from West Germany to take part in Exercise MEDICINE MAN III at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (commonly referred to by its acronym BATUS) near Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. Also in the Battle Group were elements of the Blues and Royals, Queens Royal Irish Hussars, 2nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery and supporting troops from The Corps of Royal Engineers and The Royal Corps of Transport.
