Royal Scots Borderers

The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS) is a Specialised Infantry Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS)
Active1 August 2006–Present
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeInfantry
RoleSpecialised Infantry
SizeBattalion
267 personnel[1]
Part ofSpecialised Infantry Group
Garrison/HQPalace Barracks, Holywood
Nickname(s)1 SCOTS
Motto(s)Nemo me impune lacessit (No One Strikes Me With Impunity)
MarchCharge: The Standards of the Braes of Mar
Quick March: Blue Bonnets o'er the Border
Slow March: The Garb of Old Gaul
General Salute: Loch Leven Castle
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt Col Andrew Watson
Royal ColonelThe Princess Royal
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
TartanGovernment
Royal Stewart (Pipers kilts and plaids)
HackleBlack

The battalion formed on 1 August 2006 when its antecedent regiments - the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers - amalgamated as part of the formation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

The battalion was based at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh until August 2014 when it was moved to Palace Barracks in Holywood, Northern Ireland.

History

When the Scottish infantry regiments amalgamated to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland on 28 March 2006, the Royal Scots Battalion and the King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion initially maintained their identities as separate battalions.[2]

However almost immediately the Ministry of Defence moved to amalgamate the two battalions. This was not a new idea: the origins of the combined entity, 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. That amalgamation was subsequently rescinded.[3] The Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion duly amalgamated on 1 August 2006 – upon their amalgamation, the new battalion took the name The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.[4]

Since the amalgamation, the battalion has been deployed several times both to Iraq on Operation TELIC and to Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK,[5] most recently to Afghanistan in September 2012 on HERRICK 17 as the Brigade Advisory Group and Operations Company.[6] In September 2014, B Company deployed to Sierra Leone on Operation GRITROCK to help fight the outbreak of Ebola[7] and in September 2015, the 1 SCOTS Battlegroup deployed on Operation TOSCA to Cyprus as part of the ongoing UN peacekeeping operations.[8]

A written statement in December 2016 stated that it will be a Specialised Infantry battalion, reconfigured to provide an increased contribution to countering terrorism and building stability overseas. Following this change of role, the battalion will be assigned to the Specialised Infantry Group.[9]

Following the Army 2020 Refine, the battalion will move to Aldershot and join the Specialised Infantry Group. In October 2017 the battalion officially joined the group, and are to move by 2020. Another change was the reduction of size, with the battalion losing their support company, and many other positions.[10]

    Uniform and traditions

    Uniform

    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.[11]

    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.[12]

    Battalion Music

    Battalion music includes:[13]

    Commanding Officers

    Commanding Officers have included:[14]

    • 2006–2008: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bernard Bruce
    • 2008–2010: Lt Col Charles L. G. Herbert
    • 2010–2013: Lt Col Benjamin M. A. Wrench
    • 2013–2015: Lt Col Matthew E. Munro
    • 2015–2018: Lt Col Nicholas M. Wight-Boycott
    • 2018–Present: Lt Col Andrew R. W. Watson

    Alliances

    Footnotes
    1. "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
    2. "Royal Regiment of Scotland". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
    3. Royal, Trevor (2011). The King's Own Scottish Borderers: A Concise History. ISBN 9781780572505.
    4. "Why the Royal Scots can no longer hold the line". The Telegraph. 10 October 2004. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
    5. 1 SCOTS - Operations
    6. "1 SCOTS depart on Afghanistan deployment". MoD. 18 September 2012.
    7. "UK Soldiers Deployed To Ebola Epicentre". Sky News. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
    8. "1 SCOTS in UN Cyprus mission". Berwickshire News. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
    9. "Strategic Defence and Security Review - Army:Written statement - HCWS367 - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
    10. "Specialised Infantry Group". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
    11. Design33. "History". The Royal Regiment of Scotland. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
    12. "The Territorial Army". The Royal Scots. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
    13. Regimental Marches, Tunes, and Songs of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, p. 10.
    14. Regiments and Commanding Officers, 1960–.

    References
    • Regimental Headquarters, Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (SCOTS) – Regimental Marches, Tunes, and Songs, 2010 Edinburgh Castle, United Kingdom.


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