1st (Royal Scots Borderers) Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland

The Royal Scots Borderers (1 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Two infantry regiments ; the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers merged on the 28 March 2006, and with the other Scottish infantry regiments amalgamated into the single seven battalion strong Royal Regiment of Scotland. The current Commanding Officer is Lt. Colonel Ben Wrench.

The origins of the portmanteau, Royal Scots Borderers, dates from the 1990 Options for Change review, when it was initially announced that the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers would amalgamate. This amalgamation was subsequently rescinded and the loss of a battalion transferred to the Queen's Division, which led to the formation of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

The Royal Regiment of Scotland is unique in the British Army in that the names of the regiments that were amalgamated to form it have been retained, with their battalion numbers used as subtitles. Two of the initial six regular battalions, the Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion were amalgamated in August 2006 – upon their amalgamation, the new battalion took the name Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Uniform and Traditions
The battalion wears a flat black hackle behind the Royal Regiment of Scotland cap badge on the TOS (Tam o' Shanter) to distinguish itself as the Royal Scots Borderers. It recruits its soldiers from Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh, the Lothians, Borders and parts of Lanarkshire, which was traditionally the recruiting ground of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) until they were disbanded in 1968. The battalion home headquarters and museums are based at Edinburgh Castle for The Royal Scots and Berwick for The King's Own Scottish Borderers. A Company of 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland maintains an affiliation to the 1st Battalion.

Deployments
Since the amalgamation, the battalion has been deployed to Iraq on Operation Telic and to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick. They were most recently deployed to Afghanistan in September 2012 as part of Operation Herrick XVII.

Alliances

 * 🇨🇦 – The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
 * 🇨🇦 – Royal Newfoundland Regiment
 * 🇨🇦 – 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton and York)
 * 🇦🇺 – 25th/49th Battalion, The Royal Queensland Regiment
 * – 5th Battalion, The Royal Malay Regiment
 * – The Witwatersrand Rifles
 * – HMS Edinburgh
 * - A Company Glasgow and Lanarkshire ACF