Territorial and Reserves
The Territorial Army, or TA as it is usually known, is part of Britain's reserve land forces. Together with the Regular Reserve the TA provides support to the Regular Army at home and overseas.
The TA is the largest of all the Reserve Forces, the others being the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), the Royal Marines Reserve (RMR) and the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR).
Throughout its history, almost every major operation has seen TA soldiers operating alongside their Regular counterparts.
Covering the United Kingdom, the TA is divided into three types of unit; National, Regional and Sponsored. Anyone thinking of joining usually has a choice of at least two types of unit, depending on how far they are prepared to travel to attend training.
Consultation on Future Reserve 2020 closed
The Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) public consultation exercise has ended (Friday 18 January 2013). Details are on the Future Reserves 2020 Consultation website (link in right-hand panel).
Comments have been sought from Reservists, their families and employers, as well as members of the Regular forces. This feedback will be used by MOD to help shape the White Paper due to be published in the spring, and which will be implemented as the definitive plan for Future Reserves 2020.
The consultation process was launched by Secretary of State for Defence Philip Hammond on 8 November 2012. A document known as the “Green Paper” set out proposals around how to achieve the vision for the Reserve Forces, an essential part of transforming Defence and delivering Future Force 2020.
The Green Paper envisages that Reserve Forces will be an integral and integrated element of the UK’s Armed Forces in the future. One of the main proposals is to increase the number of trained soldiers in the TA/Army Reserve to 30,000 by 2018. Reservists will be better resourced, equipped, trained and able to take on a broader range of roles to meet the changing security challenges the UK will face in the future.