RGJRA Association President
Pinched from the Annual Journal
Welcome to the Fourth edition of Swift and Bold, the annual journal of your Regimental Association, which records our key events and branch activities during 2011 and much more. I hope the combination of the E-zines, this Journal, the RGJ Regimental Association website and updates from RHQ The Rifles on what the battalions are doing, enables you all to keep in touch with what our great Regiment is achieving, both past and present. We all owe a huge vote of thanks to Ken Ambrose and his team for what they do on all our behalf in enabling us to do this, not least that the Journal is now produced virtually cost free, thanks to the team’s growing skills and advertising support, for which I am most grateful to those who help us in this manner.
It is now five years since the Royal Green Jackets handed over the British Army’s Rifle Regiment tradition, ethos and unique record of professional excellence and achievement to The Rifles on 1st February 2007, and it would be an understatement to say that all our hopes for the future have more than been fulfilled. The Rifles have firmly established themselves with their operational successes and professional style at the forefront of today’s Army, an achievement sadly that has not been without loss in both killed and wounded on a scale that we were lucky not to have suffered.
What I have found so heartening has been the way that members of the RGJRA have so actively associated with and supported The Rifles, and in particular the role that so many of you have played in supporting the Care for Casualties appeal, either by organising events or by donating money to this most worthy of causes. If we who went before support those that serve as Rifleman today and their families in their moment of need, then the future of our Regiment and all we stood for is secure, and I thank you all for the support you have selflessly given.
However I am equally conscious that our contribution over many years in NI and elsewhere should not be forgotten, as the RGJ were at the forefront of the prolonged NI counter terrorist campaign which, let us not forget, allowed a successful political solution and peace to be achieved. Seeing the huge success of the visit of our Colonel in Chief Her Majesty The Queen to the Irish Republic last year was indeed a fitting moment to remember our role, but one achieved with its own intensity of operational tempo and sacrifice, the consequences of which many live with today.
I am also very aware that in the difficult economic times that we live in today, there will be Green Jacket Riflemen that need support, whether companionship, friendly advice or financial help. “Once a Rifleman, always a Rifleman” has always been a key part of our ethos, so please help those Riflemen who need support, and do not forget that The Rifles Benevolence Fund and other service charities such as ABF The Soldiers Charity, are there to provide exactly this type of help.
Please continue to support the Association and its branches, which continue to expand as you will see in the Journal. Come to our annual Reunion at Winchester on 14th July where you will almost certainly meet many old friends, use the website for the latest news, and visit our Museum and use its shop at Winchester or on line at www.rgjmuseum.co.uk.
Finally all of us please encourage those non members you know to join the Association. There are great benefits in being a member, and we are in the process of approaching all non members on our database to ask them to join, and in so doing both help their fellow Riflemen financially by sharing the considerable costs of running the Association and enable them to better keep in touch.
So I hope you enjoy this record of what the Association and Branches did during the last year and that you find some familiar faces within these pages.
I look forward to seeing many of you on the 14th July, and my very best wishes for 2012.
Yours sincerely
Jamie Balfour
President
RGJ Regimental Association
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