Experts in close combat, our soldiers are brave, decisive and equipped with highly mobile Foxhound and Jackal vehicles and the full suite of infantry weapons. Able to deploy rapidly to operate in any conflict, combining manoeuvre and firepower to gain battle-winning advantage. Ready for anything, anytime, anywhere.
At home here in Yorkshire, 1 R YORKS have exchanged their 20 years of experience as Armoured Infantry for their ‘Future Soldier’ Light-Mechanised Role. With an interesting and varied operational training programme to look forward to over the next 5 years, 1 R YORKS will be ‘at home’ in Catterick, but also have a 2-year tour in Cyprus to look forward to in 2029.
Having been spread across four countries and three overseas deployments during the second half of last year, the 1st Battalion had only the briefest opportunity to reorganise and reset in Catterick in January 2026. Returning from Christmas and post-operational leave, we immediately embarked on our ‘CYCLONE’ progression: a programme of protected training that builds from individual skills through a series of validation events.
For Alma and Corunna, this meant re-familiarisation with their Foxhound vehicles, live firing and section and platoon training before company-level activity on Salisbury Plain. In bracing February conditions, Exercise IMPHAL ROSE then put the rifle companies through their paces against a free-thinking enemy in a battlegroup context. Overcoming a degree of rustiness after last year’s deployments, the team delivered results that were a testament to Yorkshire grit and resolve.
Meanwhile, the Quebec platoons reinvested in their specialist capabilities through demanding training concentrations, while the Battalion’s headquarters elements, largely a new team augmented by supporting attachments, rebuilt collective competence through a series of command post exercises and a formal external assessment.
Throughout these first four months of the year, Exercise RHINO STORM, a 7th Light Mechanised Brigade deployment to Germany, loomed large on the horizon. Making headlines for its scale and innovative logistics, including the chartering of civilian ferries for the first time in over 20 years, deployment began with scenes reminiscent of the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles—a reference I soon discovered was lost on most of the Battalion.
Once in the field, troops pushed the boundaries of current tactics, including integrating uncrewed systems, to defeat a numerically superior armoured force. It is impossible to summarise all the effort that contributed to the exercise’s success, both on the home front, including our families, and in the field, but everyone involved can reflect on a job well done.
The exercise culminated in the defence of a small town within what was once one of the Army’s largest bases in Germany, Princess Royal Barracks. With the exercise ending on 5 June, the Battalion came together the following evening to mark the Regiment’s 20th anniversary with a celebratory barbecue. While it was fitting to celebrate whilst deployed, we look forward to marking this important milestone again with the wider Regimental family in September.
Looking ahead, we will remain at 10 days’ notice to move for NATO and sovereign readiness tasks, including a return to Germany in late autumn to support 1st (UK) Division on Exercise ARRCADE STORM. As I reflect on the last few months, it is clear to me that the Battalion will continue to meet whatever challenges the future holds with the same resilience, spirit and humour that have proven such an enduring part of our Regimental identity.
Fortune Favours the Brave.
Take a look at what life is like in 1 R YORKS Light-Mechanised Infantry