WHO WE ARE

The Royal Dragoon Guards

Fast, flexible and fearless in combat

The Royal Dragoon Guards is an aggressive reconnaissance force. Its soldiers use an arsenal of armoured vehicles, including the Scimitar, to navigate all sorts of environments and terrains in search of enemy troops.

FACTS & FIGURES

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ACTIVE FROM

1 August 1992

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ROLE

Armoured Cavalry

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SPECIALISM

Reconnaissance

our skills

As a reconnaissance unit, the Royal Dragoon Guards is fast, flexible and fearless. It carries out reconnaissance in close proximity with enemy forces, providing accurate, timely and continuous information to commanders in all weathers and across any terrain.

  • Operating armoured vehicles
  • Gathering and passing on intelligence
  • Target acquisition
  • Making tough judgement calls
  • Radio communication
  • Training foreign militaries

Very High Readiness Task Force

The Royal Dragoon Guards is in a high state of readiness for UK and NATO operations.

Past Deployments:

  • Operation Orbital (Ukraine)
  • Operation Herrick (Afghanistan)

Our People

While the Royal Dragoon Guards recruits from across the UK, it draws most of its soldiers from Ireland and the North of England, and Yorkshire in particular. They need to be perceptive, resourceful, and capable of thinking on their feet.

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Lieutenant Ratcliffe - Troop Leader
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Sergeant Cooper
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Lance Corporal Peters

Battlesbury Barracks

Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster

Located at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster the regiment comprises five squadrons: a command and support squadron, three sabre squadrons and a headquarters squadron.

Get Directions

Located at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster the regiment comprises five squadrons: a command and support squadron, three sabre squadrons and a headquarters squadron.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Warminster+BA12+9DT/@51.1888391,-2.6137305,9.42z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4873d17522d1ddc3:0x87c40fb270809cf7!8m2!3d51.2034577!4d-2.1599541?hl=en-GB

The Royal Dragoon Guards

Each day is a new challenge Carter, 26

Our Role

The Royal Dragoon Guards is an armoured cavalry regiment. Highly skilled and versatile, they operate in front of their comrades using the Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicle, which gives them the ability to fight enemy troops in addition to carrying out their reconnaissance role.

As well as the Scimitar, Royal Dragoon Guards use the Spartan armoured personnel carrier and the Panther protected patrol vehicle to make their way around the battlefield and carry out reconnaissance.

Outside of their combat role, the regiment has provided mentoring to the Iraqi police force, and carried out emergency fire and rescue cover during fire brigade strikes back home in the UK.

Past to present

The Royal Dragoon Guards carries the history of four regiments: the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, the 5th Dragoon Guards, the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. All four were raised between 1685 and 1689, when James II and William of Orange fought for the English throne.

  1. 1743

    Cornet Richardson sustains 37 blows protecting the regimental standard

  2. 1854

    800 Dragoon Guards defeat almost 3,500 Russian cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava

  3. 1912

    Captain L E G Oates walks to his death on the ill-fated journey to the South Pole

  4. 1944

    Waterproofed tanks of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards are the first tanks ashore in D-Day

  5. 2008

    Sergeant Richards is awarded the Military Cross for his exemplary gallantry in Basra, Iraq

  6. 2010

    The regiment is deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick

Our Location

  • Battlesbury Barracks

    Woodcock Lane, Warminster, BA12 9DT - Located in the Wiltshire town of Warminster, on the edge of Salisbury Plain Training Area, the Regiment is the British Army’s senior Irish Cavalry Regiment comprising of regimental headquarters, three sabre squadrons and a command and support squadron.

List of Equipment used

SCIMITAR ARMOURED RECONNAISSANCE VEHICLE

Agile The Scimitar armoured fighting vehicle's exceptionally low ground pressure and small size make it useful where the terrain is hostile and movement is difficult

Reconnaissance vehicles

SPARTAN & CVR(T) VEHICLES

CVR(T) vehicles Samaritan is an ambulance vehicle, Sultan an armoured command vehicle and Sampson an armoured recovery vehicle

Reconnaissance vehicles

Panther

Up in the air Weighing 7-tonnes, the Panther is air transportable and can be underslung beneath a Chinook helicopter.

Protected patrol vehicles

Contact us

Please feel free to contact us. We are keen to hear from individuals who have the skills to work with us.

Where are we

We are located in Warminster, Wiltshire, England.