Royal Irish Regiment Cap Badges

[hagwalther]

Hi Guys,

Do members of the Royal Irish Regiment ever wear berets and if so, what is the colour of the cap badge?

Regards

Chris

[John Mulcahy]

They do wear berets in number 14 dress. The badge is that of the former Ulster Defence Rgt, gold coloured AA worn without the hackle.

John.

Do they actually wear a beret or a caubeen ? David

[hagwalther]

Originally Posted by John Mulcahy

They do wear berets in number 14 dress. The badge is that of the former Ulster Defence Rgt, gold coloured AA worn without the hackle.

John.

Thanks John,

Just what I'm after.

Regards

Chris

[hagwalther]

Originally Posted by David Douglas

Do they actually wear a beret or a caubeen ? David

Hi David,

It looks like the answer is both.

Caubeen with silver badge and beret with gold.

Regards

Chris

[John Mulcahy]

David

they wear both

The Caubeen with silver coloured badge and Hackle is worn in the majority of situations, Nos. 1, 2 , 13 dress

A green beret (not a caubeen) is worn in # 14 dress with gold badge no hackle.

John

The Home Service battalions of the RIR were wearing the green beret with a gold embroidered badge on the 'working' dress just before disbandment.

Jonny

[54Bty]

Is that emboidered as in an Officers type, or embroidered in cottons or a woven patch?

[Pretani]

When the dress regulation for the R IRISH were drawn up for the amalgamation of the Royal Irish Rangers and the UDR it was decided that the caubeen would be worn in Service Dress and Barrack Dress and the beret would be worn in combats. The new badge for the Royal Irish Regiment was a silver version of the old UDR badge (previously gilt for the UDR). Officers in the UDR had worn a gold embroidered badge (although some officers, noteably in 8 UDR/8 R IRISH wore metal badges. Anecdotally I've been told that this was linked to permanent instructors posted to 8 UDR from the Foot Guards and their metal-badges-for-all tradition , but I have no independent confirmation of this).

Post amalgamation, soldiers in the R IRISH (HS) Bns continued, in the most part, to wear the old gilt UDR badge in their berets. The wearing of the silver badge in berets was a good indicator that a soldier was GS (as they would not have previously had a UDR badge to keep wearing). There does not appear to have been a silver embroidered officers' beret badge ever created; certainly I have yet to see one. The badge worn in the caubeen has always been metal.

The element of cross-over in wearing caubeens and berets occurred with the loss of barrack dress and the introduction of Combat 95 as everyday wear. Within 1 R IRISH CS95 was seen as barrack dress, when worn on an everyday basis at work, and the caubeen therefore became everyday wear for them. Within the HS Bns a different interpretation was made and the beret continued to be worn in barracks with CS95.

The caubeen is now commonly worn with combat dress (see 1 R IRISH on TELIC 1 as pictured in Tim Collins' "Rules of Engagement" or 1 R IRISH currently in Helmand Province with 16 (Air Assault) Brigade.

The TA Bn, the RANGERS, retitled at the end of last year as 2 R IRISH and therefore changed their dress from that of the Royal Irish Rangers to that of the Royal Irish Regiment.

I'm not sure if Regimental Dress Regulation have been re-written to take account of the realities of what is now worn on the ground.

Hope this helps,

Mike

[John Mulcahy]

Mike
thank you very much for your post, it is very helpful. Do 2 R Irish continue to wear Rangers' insignia or have they re-badged as Royal Irish?

John

[Faugh-A-Ballagh]

Originally Posted by John Mulcahy

Mike
thank you very much for your post, it is very helpful. Do 2 R Irish continue to wear Rangers' insignia or have they re-badged as Royal Irish?

John

They are wearing Royal Irish Regiment insignia. I believe the cadets are too.


John

[Pretani]

As John says the insignia changed over with the official retitling on 1 Sep 07, as promulgated in Defence Instruction Notice 2007DIN09-026, which is referred to here.

Whilst capbadges were not a problem, there were a few difficulties getting hold of insignia for Mess Dress as the PRIs of Depot R IRISH and the HS Bns had closed. I know that rank insignia for officers, which is silver embroidered wire, rather than the more usual gold version proved initially awkward to get hold of.

The Companys in 1 (NI) Bn ACF and 2 (NI) Bn ACF that are affiliated to the R IRISH changed over at the same time, as did the CCFs.

I am aware of cadets wearing the Royal Irish Regiment badge, some time prior to official changes but am not in a position to link it to a specific unit or time.

Mike

[IMP]

I have a few of these Cap Badges in my own collection (I am just sorting them out) and now i have a headache trying to figure out what i have. I am very impressed by the knowledge and realise badges are not so easily identifiable. All i can say is keep up the good work as it will make life easier for me.