The Royal Yeomanry

The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is an armoured regiment of the Territorial Army consisting of five squadrons and a military band:

The Royal Yeomanry's role is to provide chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance as part of the British Army's combat arm.
 * A (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron (Swindon)
 * B (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron (Leicester)
 * C (Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry) Squadron (Croydon)
 * S (Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry) Squadron (Nottingham)
 * W (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron (London)
 * The Royal Yeomanry Band (Inns of Court and City Yeomanry) (London)

It augments the Joint CBRN Regiment and provides CBRN reconnaissance capability to the British Army's formation reconnaissance regiments (the Household Cavalry, Light Dragoons, Queen's Royal Lancers, 9th/12th Royal Lancers and Queen's Dragoon Guards).

History
The Royal Yeomanry was formed in 1967, following the amalgamation of six distinguished county yeomanry regiments, as a medium reconnaissance regiment equipped with armoured cars. It continued in this role until 1996, when it became the British Army's NBC defence regiment. It served exclusively in this role until 1999, when the Joint NBC Regiment was formed. Two of the Royal Yeomanry's squadrons, A Squadron and the W Squadron, were retained in the NBC role to provide reserves for front line NBC troops. The remaining three converted to the Challenger 2 to serve as reserves for armoured regiments.

Under the restructuring of the Territorial Army announced in March 2006, all five squadrons of the Royal Yeomanry have adopted the role of formation CBRN reconnaissance and the regiment's established strength has increased to 561 personnel.

Operational service
Members of the Royal Yeomanry have served as individual replacements on operations in Kuwait and the Former Yugoslavia. The regiment's most significant deployments have been to Iraq.

In January 2003, W Squadron and A Squadron were mobilised for Operation TELIC, the war in Iraq. The two squadrons were amalgamated with a number of augmentees from the other three squadrons and from the Royal Logistic Corps to form a much-enlarged "Y" Squadron of the Joint NBC Regiment.

This was the first deployment of a formed TA unit (TA soldiers under TA command) for combat operations since the Suez crisis in 1956. During the war, officers and soldiers of the Royal Yeomanry found themselves serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade, 7 Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) and 3 Commando Brigade as NBC specialists, before switching roles to infantry “peace support” operations once Saddam Hussein’s regime had collapsed.

The Royal Yeomanry has maintained a constant presence in Iraq since March 2003. The regiment's soldiers have been mobilised for each of the subsequent TELICs. Of these, the largest deployment was for TELIC 4 in 2004, when soldiers and officers from B, C and S Squadrons were despatched to augment the Queen's Royal Lancers and 1st Battalion the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, serving principally as infantry but also in the armoured role. Since 2007, the Royal Yeomanry has provided officers and soldiers as individual replacements on Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan.

Future
Under Army 2020, it the yeomanry will lose 2 squadrons (A and B) but gain a squadron from the RMLY. W Squadron will re-role as a HQ Squadron and the unit will be mounted on RWMIK vehicles. It will be paired with 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards and be under 7th Infantry Brigade.

Battle honours

 * Iraq 2003

As a result of the regiment's initial service during the Iraq war, the Royal Yeomanry was in 2005 awarded the theatre honour "Iraq 2003", the first battle honour the regiment has won since its formation, and the first - so far the only - battle honour awarded to a Territorial Army regiment since the Second World War.

The squadrons forming the Royal Yeomanry also hold a large number of battle honours won by their predecessor regiments and retain the right to parade their respective guidon.

Lineage

 * -style="text-align: center; background: #F08080;"
 * align="center" colspan="5"|Lineage
 * width="25%" rowspan="20" align="center" | The Royal Yeomanry
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own)
 * width="25%" colspan="3" align="center" | '''The Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own)
 * width="25%" colspan="3" align="center" | The Derbyshire Yeomanry
 * width="25%" rowspan="4" align="center" | The Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Kent Yeomanry
 * width="25%" colspan="2" align="center" | The Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles (Duke of Connaught's Own)
 * width="25%" colspan="2" align="center" | The West Kent Yeomanry (Queen's Own)
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
 * width="25%" colspan="2" align="center" | The 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
 * width ="25%" colspan="2" align="center" | The 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Westminster Dragoons
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Berkshire and Westminster Dragoons
 * width="25%" align="center" | The Berkshire Yeomanry
 * width="25%" align="center" | The Westminster Dragoons (2nd County of London Yeomanry)
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry
 * width ="25%" colspan="2" align="center" | The 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Westminster Dragoons
 * width="25%" rowspan="2" align="center" | The Berkshire and Westminster Dragoons
 * width="25%" align="center" | The Berkshire Yeomanry
 * width="25%" align="center" | The Westminster Dragoons (2nd County of London Yeomanry)
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry
 * width="25%" align="center" | The Westminster Dragoons (2nd County of London Yeomanry)
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry
 * width="25%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry