[buttonhole badge]

Dark blue caubeens were worn by RInF & RIrF up to '68.

I have previously written at length on the RIRang/UDR CGC and the various badges worn post July '92.

Remember silver badge for caubeen, at first lugged, both officers silver (Edinburgh HM) & anodised OR's.

Working dress for RIRegt was beret & GOLD anodised badge.

The beret was only removed from dress regs about 2010, I was in RHQ at the time and had worn them all, both Regt's pre/post amalgamation.

Col Collins adopted the caubeen in all forms of dress some time earlier. The scarcest RIRegt head dress badge is the officers silver bullion beret badge transitional between the beret being dumped and the caubeen taking over. Slidered silver anodised badges also date from about that time. A gold anodised pattern exists with a bulbous crown which was manufactured when existing stocks of 'UDR' badges were exhausted long after the Regt had passed into history much misunderstood & unfairly maligned by the great unwashed.

On a point of order HS soldiers did the same training as GS soldiers and after battlecamp when the GS recruits went back to the depot for several weeks prior to being sent to Bn the HS troops did more advanced training so in fact were more highly trained than the so called 'regulars'.