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How the Ranger Regiment fits into the grand scheme of things is an interesting question. I think the Army is distinguishing them from SF by defining them as ‘Special Operations’ units … hence Army Special Operations Brigade. That is the Specialised Infantry Brigade with new title and an all arms organisation (eventually). I think the units are likely to emulate the US Special Forces (Green Beret ‘Alpha Teams’) role - of teams embedding, leading and supporting indigenous forces.

The biggest question for me is - will the govt / MoD have greater appetite to use the ASOB in hazardous operations? Risk aversion seems to be the dominant trait at the moment.

3RGR seems to have gone in the orbat,probably absorbed into the wider Ranger Regiment.

Some observations then:

The elite infantry/ ‘special’ part of the forces is staring to appear rather crowded … SAS, SBS, SRR, SFSG, RM, Para, Rangers.

where does this leave units such as the Paras, an elite infantry force in terms of recruiting? I can’t see the Rangers all getting parachute trained.

Also it leaves more Regiments as single regular Battalion regiments (RRF, Mercians, PWRR, Lancs) … the ‘big regiment’ concept was supposed to prevent this in the last big organisational changes.