Royal Australian Regiment

The Royal Australian Regiment
Cap badge of the Royal Australian Regiment
Active	23 November 1948 – Present
Country	Australia
Branch	Army
Type	Line Infantry
Size	Seven battalions
Part of	Royal Australian Infantry Corps
Garrison/HQ	1st Battalion – Townsville 2nd Battalion – Townsville 3rd Battalion – Townsville 5th Battalion – Palmerston 6th Battalion – Enoggera 7th Battalion – Adelaide 8th/9th Battalion – Enoggera
Nickname(s)	1st Battalion – The Pony Soldiers or The Big Blue One 2nd Battalion – Second to None 3rd Battalion – Old Faithful 4th Battalion – The Fighting Fourth 5th Battalion – The Tiger Battalion 7th Battalion – The Pigs 8th Battalion – The Grey Eight
Motto(s)	Duty First
Colors	3rd Battalion and 6th Battalion entitled to wear US PUC streamer on Regimental Colour; 1st Battalion entitled to US MUC streamer on Regimental Colour
March	Quick – El Alamein (Band); Black Bear (Pipes and Drums) Slow – Infantry Song
Mascot(s)	1st Battalion – Shetland pony "Septimus" 3rd Battalion – None 4th Battalion – None 5th Battalion – Sumatran tiger "Quintus Rama" 6th Battalion – Blue Heeler Corporal "Ridgeliegh Blue" 8th/9th Battalion – Merino ram John "Stan the Ram" Macarthur
Commanders
Current commander	Major General Mark Kelly AO, DSC (Colonel commandant)
Colonel in Chief	HM The Queen (Royal Australian Infantry Corps)
Colonel of the Regiment	General Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC (Governor-General of Australia)
Insignia
Unit Colour Patches
Tartan	Australian (2 and 7 RAR piper's kilts and plaids) Royal Stewart (3 RAR piper's kilts and plaids)
Abbreviation	RAR

The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) is the parent administrative regiment for regular infantry battalions of the Australian Army and is the senior infantry regiment of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. It was originally formed in 1948 as a three battalion regiment; however, since then its size has fluctuated as battalions have been raised, amalgamated or disbanded in accordance with the Australian government's strategic requirements. Currently, the regiment consists of seven battalions and has fulfilled various roles including those of light, parachute, motorised and mechanised infantry. Throughout its existence, units of the Royal Australian Regiment have deployed on operations in Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) is part of the Royal Australian Infantry Corps, along with the six state-based infantry regiments of the Australian Army Reserve. It is the most senior of the corps' regiments in the order of precedence, and currently consists of seven Regular Army light infantry battalions: