3rd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=3rd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment


caption=Cap Badge of the Royal Anglian Regiment
dates=April 2006-
country=United Kingdom
branch=Army
type=TA Infantry
command_structure=49th (East) Brigade
role= TA Reserve
size= One Battalion
current_commander= Lt Colonel D G Vincent MBE
garrison= Bury St Edmunds
ceremonial_chief=HRH The Duke of Gloucester, KG, GCVO
ceremonial_chief_label=Colonel in Chief (Royal Anglian Regiment)
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname= The Steelbacks
motto=
colors=
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Tactical Recognition Flash
identification_symbol_2=
identification_symbol_2_label=Brigade Flash
march=Quick - "Rule Britannia/Speed the Plough"
Slow - "The Northamptonshire"
mascot=
battles=
notable_commanders=General Sir Michael Walker GCB, CMG, CBE
anniversaries=

The 3rd battalion Royal Anglian Regiment "The Steelbacks" is the Territorial Army unit of the Royal Anglian Regiment and is made up of volunteers who train in their spare time as soldiers. It was established on the 1st of April 2006, it was formed from five of the six companies of the East of England Regiment with A, B, C, E and HQ companies (all Royal Anglian cap badge) going to 3 Royal Anglian and D company (Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters cap badge) going to the 4th (V) battalion Mercian Regiment.

Organisation

The battalion headquarters is located in Bury St Edmunds just up the road from the Regimental headquarters at the keep. The company locations are as follows:

* A (Norfolk & Suffolk) Company - Norwich and Lowestoft
* B (Lincolnshire) Company - Lincoln and Grimsby
* C (Leicestershire & Northamptonshire) Company - Leicester and Northampton
* E (Essex & Hertfordshire) Company - Chelmsford and Hertford
* HQ (Suffolk & Cambridgeshire) Company - Bury St Edmunds

Roles

The battalion is primarily an infantry unit who's role is to provide formed units on operations and to provide individual replacements to their regular counterparts as and when they are needed. The battalion has a number of generalised departments which are based at each company location, these are:

* Adjudant General's Corps (Pay and admin)
* CIS, providing Communication, Information and Security
* Royal Army Medical Corps
* MT Platoon, providing motor transport
* Chef's, providing catering support
* Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers maintaining the battalions vehicles
* Rifle Platoon
* Stores

But also has a number of specialist/support platoons, these are:

* Military Intelligence Cell - Based at HQ company
* Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) - Based at HQ company
* Mortars - Based at A Company
* Anti-Tank - Based at B company
* Assault Pioneers - Based at C company
* Machine Guns - Based at E company

Experience

Although only a part time unit and having only been established in 2006 the battalion has already accumulated a wealth of operational experience. Most members of the battalion have deployed at least once and many members have deployed multiple times. Here are some of the theatre's members of 3rd battalion have served in:

* Afghanistan
* Bosnia
* Cyprus
* Iraq
* Kosovo
* Northern Ireland

Nickname

The 3rd battalions nickname of "The Steelbacks" is taken from one of its former regiments, the Northamptonshire Regiment who earned the nickname for their ability to show complete contempt when being flogged with the cat-o'-nine tails "Not a whimper under the lash", then a normal method of administering punishments in the Army even for very minor crimes.

The Future

The Steelbacks will for the first time deploy as a battalion on operations when in 2010 they are tasked to fulfill the role as UN peacekeepers in Cyprus as part of Operation TOSCA.

External links

* [http://www.army.mod.uk/royalanglian/vikings/index.htm 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment (The Vikings)]
* [http://www.army.mod.uk/royalanglian/2nd_bn_poachers/index.htm 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment (The Poachers)]
* [http://www.army.mod.uk/royalanglian/3rd_bn/index.htm 3rd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment]
* [http://www.royalanglianmuseum.org.uk/ Royal Anglian Museum]