2nd Royal Tank Regiment

The 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2 RTR) is an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and the 1st Mechanized Brigade. It primarily recruits from southern England while 1 RTR recruits from the north.

History
Founded as B Battalion, Tank Corps in 1917, the 2 RTR first saw action in World War I with the advent of tank technology. In 1992, it merged with the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (without change of title). It became the second regiment that was equipped with the Challenger 2.

Organisation
2 RTR is made up of four squadrons:
 * Badger
 * Cyclops
 * Egypt
 * Falcon

Operations
The Regiment has seen action most recently in the following areas: Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. After a long period in Fallingbostel, Germany, the regiment moved back to the UK and the Aliwal Barracks in Tidworth in July 2007. All four of the Regiment's Sabre Squadrons were deployed in 2006/7, with EGYPT providing the Challenger 2 armoured punch on Op TELIC 9, which were then replaced on TELIC 10 by CYCLOPS with BADGER, operating in Warrior tracked armoured vehicles. FALCON have recently returned from Op HERRICK in Afghanistan where they conducted numerous operations on the new Mastiff armoured vehicle. As of June 2009 EGYPT are back in Afghanistan operating on the Viking armoured vehicle.

The Regiment had a busy training year with AFV Ranges followed by BATUS towards the end of the year. On 25 June 2008 at Buckingham Palace, both Regiments were presented with their new Standard by The Queen, which included the new Battle Honour of Al Basrah 2003.