1st Battalion, The Rifles (1 RIFLES) is a light infantry battalion of

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

under the command of

7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team The 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team is a formation in the British Army with a direct lineage to 7th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom), 7th Armoured Brigade and a history that stretches back to the Napoleonic Wars. It saw active service i ...

History

ANA and C Company 1 Rifles Engaging the Taliban MOD 45150612

The battalion formed on 1 February 2007 as part of 52 Infantry Brigade, merging the single battalions of the

Devonshire and Dorset Regiment The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment (11th, 39th and 54th), usually just known as the Devon and Dorsets, was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1958 by the amalgamation of two county regiments, the Devonshire Regiment and the Dorset ...

and the

Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment was a short-lived infantry regiment of the British Army. History The regiment was formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal R ...

. The battalion then moved in August 2007, to its permanent home of Beachley Barracks at Chepstow. From 2008 to 2012, it was attached to

3 Commando Brigade United Kingdom Commando Force (UKCF), previously called 3 Commando Brigade (3 Cdo Bde), is the UK's special operations-capable commando formation of the Royal Marines. It is composed of Royal Marine Commandos and commando qualified personnel f ...

as the fourth manoeuvre unit of the brigade alongside the three battalion sized commando units of the Royal Marines. From March 2020, 1 RIFLES was deployed throughout Wales on

Operation Rescript Operation Rescript was the code name for the British military operation to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies between 2020 and 2022. It was described as the UK's "biggest ever homeland military op ...

, supporting the UK's efforts to address the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The battalion helped install hospital beds at

Dragon's Heart Hospital Dragon's Heart Hospital () was a temporary hospital located at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It opened on 13 April 2020 to help deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales. It was decommissioned towards the end of October and ea ...

, a temporary critical care hospital for COVID-19.

Future

The battalion is currently based in Dhekelia, British Forces Cyprus until 2025. 1 Rifles will return to Chepstow in the summer of 2025 to take on a new role as a Light Mechanised Battalion driving

Foxhound A foxhound is a type of large hunting hound bred for strong hunting instincts, a keen sense of smell, and their barking, energy, drive, and speed. In fox hunting, the foxhound's namesake, packs of foxhounds track quarry, followed—usually on ho ...

vehicles. Towards the end of the decade, 1 Rifles will move to new build facilities at

Caerwent Barracks Caerwent Training Area is a British military installation at Caerwent, Monmouthshire, Wales. The large military site is situated north of the A48 road about west of Chepstow and east of Newport. Established as the Royal Navy Propellant ...

References

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External links

1 Rifles
Rifles 001 Rifle regiments Military units and formations established in 2007 Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Iraq War Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) British light infantry The Rifles 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom