5th Battalion, The Rifles

The 5th Battalion, The Rifles is an armoured infantry battalion of the Rifles. Formed from the redesignation of 1 LIGHTS, the battalion is currently part of the army's only deployable division, and based in the town of Salisbury, Wiltshire.

History
In 2003, the Delivering Security in a Changing World reform was announced, which re-organised the army and merged many of the single battalion regiments in new "large" regiments. On 1 February 2007 the 1st Battalion, The Light Infantry was merged into a new large regiment, known as The Rifles, and as a result was redesignated as the 5th Battalion, the Rifles. Following their renaming the battalion was organised as an armoured infantry battalion under the 20th Armoured Brigade based at Alanbrooke Barracks, Paderborn. The battalion would then see two deployments; Operation Telic XIII and later Operation Herrick XV.

In 2010 the Army 2020 reform was announced which would dramatically reorganise the army to be able to deploy more easily by 2020. In 2015 the Army 2020 Refine was announced which again changed the army, this time for the better expanding the Army Reserve and giving more expansions on the number of regiments and units. Following this announcement, it was announced that almost all units would leave Germany, therefore the battalion was told they were to move to Bulford by 2016. The battalion is currently commanded by the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade and paired with the 7th Battalion, The Rifles as their warrior reserve battalion. Currently the battalion is based at Ward Barracks, Salisbury,