Active 31 July 1962–Present Branch Army Role Light Infantry | Country Jamaica Type Line Infantry Size Three battalions | |
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The Jamaica Regiment is the main formation of land troops in the Jamaican Defence Force. It is a non-mechanised infantry regiment consisting of three battalions, two regular and one territorial. The regiment has two main roles:
Contents
The regiment has two main camps, with the two regular battalions rotating annually between them. The battalion at Up Park Camp in Kingston has a commitment to assisting the local police in maintaining law and order, while the battalion at Moneague Training Camp in Moneague, St Ann is mainly committed to anti-drug patrols. In addition, the regiment is one of the main units that supplies United Nations peacekeeping troops for situations in the Caribbean region.
History
The Jamaica Regiment was initially formed in 1954 as a unit on the British Army colonial list. In 1958, the Federation of the West Indies was founded, and the regiment passed from the control of the War Office to the new Federation government, where it, and the other infantry regiments of the various Caribbean islands, were disbanded and reorganised into the West India Regiment. This lasted only two years, before this was disbanded and each of the individual islands regained control over their own armies. Initially, the regiment consisted of the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion (National Reserve); however, the increasing array of tasks that the regiment was called upon to perform led to it being stretched. So, in 1979, three companies and part of the HQ of the 1st Battalion were split and used to form the 2nd Battalion; this mirrored the form and functions of the 1st Battalion. In 1999, the 2nd Battalion had the honour of mounting the guard at Buckingham Palace. The 1st Battalion undertook this during a visit to the UK in July and August 2007.
In 1983, the regiment participated in the United States-led invasion of Grenada.
Organization
Music
The regimental march of the Jamaica Regiment is the JDF March. However, each of the regiment's three battalions has its own march: