2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry

The 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry operationall known as (2 LIGHT) was an infantry battalion of The Light Infantry within the British Army. The battalion was formed in 1968 and eventually reformed as the 1st Battalion of the same regiment after the Options for Change,

History
In 1968, following the major reforms following the start of the Cold War, The Light Infantry was formed from the consolidation of the regiments within the Light Infantry Brigade. The 2nd battalion was formed from The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Upon formation, the battalion was based at Montgomery Barracks in West Berlin and assigned to the Berlin Brigade. The next year, the regiment moved to Meeanee Barracks, reorganised as Airmobile infantry and assigned to the 19th Airportable Brigade. The regiment then saw three deployments; May - Aug 69 (Exercise Sea Lion, Malaysia), Sep 69 - Jan 70 (Operation Banner, Belfast), and finally Apr - Jul 70 (Exercise Bersatu, Malaysia). From Oct - Nov 70 the battalion performed Public Duties and then deployed three more times to Northern Ireland; Jun - Oct 71 (Operation Banner, Armagh), Jun - Oct 72 (Operation Banner, Londonderry), finally Mar - Jul 73 (Operation Banner, Belfast).

In 1974, the battalion moved to Stornoway Barracks converted to armoured infantry and assigned to the 20th Armoured Brigade. The regiment then saw two deployments to Northern Ireland; Mar - Jul 75 (Operation Banner, Londonderry) and Aug - Dec 75 (Operation Banner, Belfast). In 1978 following the Mason Review, the battalion moved to Abercorn Barracks, converted to light infantry, and assigned to the 39th Infantry Brigade. The next year, the battalion moved to Lathbury Barracks under British Forces Gibraltar. In 1981, following the 1981 Defence White Paper, the battalion moved to Weeton Camp and assigned to the 42nd (North West) Brigade as air assault infantry. The battalion then deployed from Apr - Sep 82 on Operation Banner based in South Armagh. In 1984, the battalion moved to Peninsula Barracks and assigned to the 6th Airmobile Brigade. From Jul - Dec 87 the battalion deployed on Operation Banner as the Belfast Roulement Battalion.

In 1989, the battalion moved to Lucknow Barracks, and converted to Mechanized Infantry using the M116