8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
Active	31 October 1973– 30 June 1997 31 October 2007– present
Country	Australia
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Motorised infantry
Part of	7th Brigade
Garrison/HQ	Uruzgan Lines, Enoggera Barracks, Brisbane, Queensland
Motto(s)	Duty First
March	The Brown and Grey Lanyard (Black Bear)
Mascot(s)	Merino Ram named John MacArthur VIII (Stan the Ram)
Engagements	East Timor War in Afghanistan Iraq
Decorations	Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation
Commanders
Current commander	LTCOL J Eccleston
Notable commanders	Peter Leahy, Gary McKay, MC
Insignia
Unit colour patch

The 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (8/9 RAR) is a motorised infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was originally formed in 1973 by linking together both the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment. Over the next twenty-four years the battalion would remain on the Australian Order of Battle based at Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane, Queensland, until it was disbanded in 1997 amid a number of Defence-wide cutbacks introduced by the Howard government. In 2006 it was announced that the battalion would be re-raised as part of a plan to expand the size of the Army and since then it established itself as a fully deployable motorised infantry battalion as part of 7th Brigade.