2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
Active16 October 1945 – 15 August 1973
1 February 1995 – present
CountryAustralia
BranchAustralian Army
TypeAmphibious light infantry
Size350[1]
Part of1st Division
Garrison/HQTownsville
Nickname(s)Boys in Black[2]
Second to None[2]
Motto(s)Duty First
MarchRingo (Band)
Back in Black (Pipes and Drums)
EngagementsKorean War

Malayan Emergency
Vietnam War

East Timor
Iraq War

Afghanistan

DecorationsGallantry Cross Unit Citation (South Vietnam)
Insignia
Unit colour patch
TartanAustralian (Pipers kilts and plaids)

The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) is an amphibious light infantry battalion of the Australian Army part of the 1st Division Amphibious Task Group based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.

2 RAR was initially formed as the Australian 66th Battalion in 1945 as part of the 34th Brigade (Australia) and since then it has seen active service during the Korean War, Malayan Emergency and Vietnam War. In addition, the battalion has participated in peacekeeping operations in Japan, Rwanda, East Timor and the Solomon Islands and has contributed rifle companies to the security force protecting the Australian embassy in Baghdad following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In May 2006, 2 RAR's headquarters, support company and a rifle company deployed to Iraq as part of the third rotation of the Al Muthanna Task Group. In June 2011, the battalion deployed to Urozgan Province, Afghanistan as Mentoring Task Force Three (MTF3). In 2011, 2 RAR was selected to be the Army's Amphibious Ready Element Landing Force embarked on the Navy's new Canberra-class amphibious assault ships.[3] The conversion process was completed in October 2017.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Eckstein_RIMPAC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "2 RAR: The Boys in Black". Digger History. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  3. ^ Minister for Defence, Minister for Defence Materiel and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence (12 December 2011). "New structure and capability for Army" (Press release). Archived from the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2016.

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