Regiment
A
regiment is a
military unit, consisting of a group of
battalionsâ€"usually fourâ€"commanded by a colonel. Depending on mission, country of origin, and makeup, a modern regiment is similar to a
brigade in size in that both range from a few hundred soldiers up to 2,000-3,000, depending on branch of service and method of organization. The modern unit varies in size, scope, administrative role from nation to nation, and within the armed forces of some nations. Regiments and brigades are generally grouped into
divisions.
The term came into use in
Europe around the end of the
16th century, when armies evolved from a collection of
retinues following
knights to a more formally organized structure.
The regimental system
Administrative regiments are not part of the army's day-to-day operational command structure, but regimental ties are maintained by the administrative management of its members, and may include recruiting, basic training at a regimental centre, career management, postings, selection for special training, promotion boards, etc., for those in service. This system dates back to the
Cardwell reforms in the
United Kingdom, when each regiment was structured so as to have a battalion permanently overseas, while another battalion of the regiment was based at home to recruit and train replacements.
The historical strength of the regimental system is the fierce loyalty engendered by this administrative regiment. As far as possible, officers,
non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and soldiers remain part of their administrative regiment throughout their military career, even when at schools, posted to headquarters or otherwise "extra-regimentally" employed. In the U.K., even the most senior generals do not hesitate to identify themselves as being "General So-and-So, late of the xxxxx Regiment". This exclusive identity maintains morale, dedication and group discipline. These benefits are weighed against costs such as hazardous regimental competition, a lack of interchangeability between units of different regiments, and more pronounced "old boy networks," within the military that may hamper efficiency and fairness.
Another key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the key tactical building block. This flows historically from the colonial period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous, but is easily adapted to a number of different purposes. In large continental armies, the division is the functional unit and its commander the authority for running all aspects of the
formation: his staff train and administer soldiers, officers and commanders of subordinate units. Divisions are generally garrisoned together with a single system of messing and division-run training facilities. A
battalion Commanding Officer (CO) is just another level in the chain of command. Individuals are transferred into and out of divisions as required.
Within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty. In addition to combat units, other organizations are very much part of the regimental family: regimental training schools, serving members on "extra-regimental employment", regimental associations (retirees), bands and associated cadet groups. The aspects that an administrative regiment have in common include a symbolic colonel-in-chief (often a member of the royal family), a Colonel of the Regiment or "honorary colonel" who protects the traditions and interests of the regimental family and insists on high standards befitting of the regiment's forefathers, battle honours (honours earned by one unit of an administrative regiment are shared by the whole regiment), ceremonial uniforms,
cap badge, peculiarities of insignia,
stable belt, and regimental marches and songs. The regiment usually has a traditional "home station", which is often a historic
garrison that houses the regimental museum and regimental headquarters. The latter has a modest staff to support regimental committees and administer both the regular members and the association(s) of retired members.
In the
British Army and armies modelled on it, such as
Canada's and
Australia's, the term
regiment is used confusingly in two different ways: it can mean an administrative identity and grouping or a tactical unit.
In the UK, there exist administrative "divisions" in the infantry that encompass several regiments, such as the Guards Division, the Scottish Division, or the Light Division. The down-sizing and consolidation of British infantry regiments announced in
2004 suggests that the administrative divisions may evolve into something very similar to Canada's three Regular Force administrative regiments that will each have four or five battalions, a band, etc. (See
The Royal Canadian Regiment or
Royal 22e Régiment as examples).
In Australia there is but one administrative infantry regiment, the
Royal Australian Regiment, consisting of all six regular infantry battalions in the Army.
British Army
See also lists of British Army regiments for 1881, 1962, 1994, and 2008In the
British Army, for most purposes, the regiment is the largest "permanent" organisational unit. Above regimental level, organisation is changed to meet the tasks at hand. Because of their permanent nature, many regiments have long histories, often going back for centuries; the oldest British regiment still in existence is the
Honourable Artillery Company, established in
1537, while the
Royal Scots, formed in
1633, is the oldest
infantry regiment. (These claims are contested on various points of precedence; see
FAQ: Regiments, in general and especially:
FAQ: Oldest Regiment in the British Army.)
In the British regimental system the tactical regiment or battalion is the basic functional unit and its Commanding Officer more autonomous than in a continental system. Divisional and brigade commanders generally do not immerse themselves in the day-to-day functioning of a battalion - they can replace the commanding officer but will not micro-manage the unit. The
regimental sergeant major is another key figure, responsible to the CO for unit discipline and the behaviour of the NCOs.
Advantages and disadvantages
The regimental system is generally admired for the
esprit de corps it engenders in its units' members, but efforts to implement it in countries with a previously-existing continental system usually do not succeed. The system presents difficulties for military planners who must deal with the problems of trying to keep soldiers of a regiment together throughout their careers and of administering separate garrisons, training, and mess facilities. The regimental community of serving and retired members often makes it very difficult for planners to restructure forces by moving, merging or re-purposing units.
In those armies where the system exists, the regimental system is criticized as parochial and as creating unnecessary rivalry between different regiments. The question is also raised as to whether it is healthy to develop soldiers more loyal to their regiment than to the military in general. It is worth noting that the UK, for example, has never suffered a military coup, or even seriously faced the prospect of one - this could be attributed to the "tribal" nature of the regimental system, which makes it nearly impossible for a charismatic leader to command the loyalty of the entire army. Commonwealth-style regiments have proven their worth throughout history in war and through lengthy and difficult policing missions. Regiments recruited from areas of political ferment (such as
Scotland,
Wales,
Ireland,
Quebec,
India, etc.), tend to perform particularly well because of the loyalty their members exhibit to the regiments. Generally, the regimental system is found to best function in countries with small- to medium-sized military forces where the problems of administering vast numbers of personnel are not as prevalent. The regimental system works particularly well in an environment where the prime role of the army is small-scale police actions and counterinsurgency operations, requring prolonged deployment away from home. In such a situation, co-ordination between regiments is rarely necessary, and the esprit de corps of the regiment provides an emotional substitute for the sense of public approval that an army receives at home. This is particularly relevant to British experience during the days of the empire, where the army was virtually continuously engaged in low-intensity conflict with insurgents, and full-scale warfare was the exception rather than the rule.
Armour
Armoured regiments are usually composed of one tactical regiment, seldom more. As an exception, the two tactical regiments
Le 12e Régiment blindé du Canada and
Le 12e Régiment blindé du Canada (Milice) are both part of the administrative regiment
Le 12e Régiment blindé du Canada. The only administrative armoured regiment of the
British Army that consists of more than one tactical regiment is the
Royal Tank Regiment, which currently has two (1 and 2 RTR), and once had many more.
Artillery
All of a single nation's
artillery units are considered part of a single administrative regiment, but there are typically several tactical artillery regiments. They are designated by numbers, names or both. For example, the tactical regiments 1st Regiment,
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA and many others are part of the single administrative regiment The
Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. In Britain, the
Royal Regiment of Artillery works in the same way.
Infantry
Administrative
infantry regiments are composed of one or more
battalions. When a regiment has only one battalion, the battalion may have exactly the same name as the regiment. For example, The
North Saskatchewan Regiment is the only battalion in the administrative regiment of the same name. When there is more than one battalion, they are distinguished by numbers, subsidiary titles or both. In Britain, every infantry battalion bears a number, even if it is the only remaining battalion in the regiment (in which case it is the 1st Battalion). Until after the
Second World War, every regiment had at least two battalions. Traditionally, the regular battalions were the 1st and 2nd Battalions, the
militia battalion was the 3rd Battalion, and the
Territorial Army battalions were the 4th Battalion and up. A few regiments had up to four regular battalions and more than one militia battalion, which skewed the numbering, but this was rare. For this reason, although the regular battalion today (if there is only one) will always be the 1st Battalion, the TA battalions may have non-consecutive numbers.
In practice, it is impossible to exercise all the administrative functions of a true regiment when the regiment consists of a single unit. Soldiers, and particularly officers, cannot spend a full career in one battalion. Thus in the Armoured Corps, the traditional administrative "regiment" tends to play more of a ceremonial role, while in practise, its members are administered by their corps or "branch" as in the Artillery. Thus soldiers and officers can serve in many different "regiments", changing hat badges without too much concern during their career. Indeed, in the artillery, all regiments wear the same badge.
Corps
The
British Army also has battalion-sized tactical regiments of the
Royal Engineers,
Royal Corps of Signals,
Army Air Corps,
Royal Logistic Corps,
Royal Military Police, and formerly of the
Royal Corps of Transport.
See also List of United States Marine Corps Regiments, Infantry Divisions of the United States ArmyThe
United States Army was also once organized into regiments, but the Pentomic Army reorganizations of 1957 eliminated the regiment as the primary unit. A new system, the
Combat Arms Regimental System, or CARS, was thus adopted to replace the old regimental system. CARS uses the Army's traditional regiments as parent organizations for historical purposes, but the primary building blocks of
divisions and
brigades became
battalions. Each battalion carries an association with a
parent regiment, even though the regimental organization no longer exists. In some brigades several numbered battalions carrying the same regimental association may still serve together, and tend to treat themselves as part of the traditional regiment when in fact they are independent battalions serving a brigade headquarters and not a regimental one.
There are, of course, exceptions to CARS, including the
Armored Cavalry Regiments which were organized more traditionally as independent regiments assigned to
Corps;
The Old Guard, the Army's ceremonial unit at
Fort Myer, VA, outside
Washington, DC, which retained it historical title of the 3d Infantry Regiment; and the Ranger Regiment, created in 1986 when the 1st and 2d Battalions, 75th Infantry (Ranger) were combined with a new 3d Battalion and designated the
75th Ranger Regiment.
In the
20th century the "Division" became the tactical and administrative building block for U.S. armies in mobilizations for World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam and NATO. Industrial management techniques were used to draft, assemble, equip, train and then employ huge masses of conscripted civilians in very short order, starting with minimal resources. Training, administration and even tactical employment was centred at divisional level. Many, but not all combat support and logistics was also concentrated at that level.
In
World War 2, the Army organized its
engineer regiments in that manner. All training (including basic) and administration was conducted at Regimental level. Depending on the task required, the regiment could be split or combined. When a Regiment was split for a small project, the operation level was as a Battalion, usually consisting of three Companies. For larger projects, two Regiments might be combined with two to four specialized companies. This was designated an Engineer Group and led by a Colonel. Some Regiments were split and combined many times during World War 2.
In the 21st century, the US Army began a program of "modularization", using the
Brigade Combat Team as the basic building block for combat arms formations. The BCT can be an indepentant organization or grouped with other BCT's under divisional control. This system, however, still retains the historical regimental numbering system established under CARS for battalions.
The USMC is divided into numbered regiments. Regardless of their purpose, Marine regiments are always referred to generically as "Marines" or "Marine Regiments" - never as "Marine Rifle Regiment" (the USMC does not use the terms infantry or infantryman, preferring rifle and rifleman instead) or "Marine Artillery Regiment." For instance, a Marine would consider himself to be a member of
12th Marines or
10th Marines. That is the 10th or 12th Marine Regiment. All regiments in the Marine Corps are
rifle units with the exception of 10th Marines, 11th Marines, 12th Marines, and
14th Marines which are
artillery regiments. Marine Regiments are commanded by Colonels of Marines and are usually composed of three to five battalions
Because the United States Marine Corps deploys in
Marine Expeditionary Units or MEU's, a regiment may be deployed as the
ground combat element of a
Marine Expeditionary Brigade or MEB. When attached to the MEB the Regiment is reinforced and redesignated a
Regimental Landing Team.
*
Military unit*
Regiment of the North Pole is an old astronomy term, but a link to it is put here to avoid confusion.
