Tactical Recognition Flash

An excellent example of WAGI. For years following WW2 the British Army gradually eschewed the idea of festooning their field clothing in brightly coloured badges, preferring to put the individual unit's identity on subdued and easily removable slides - worn on either the shoulder epaulettes or, more recently with the advent of CS95, on the front.

Prior to the onset of the TRF malaise, the only units that had any insignia extra to rank patches/slides on their smocks were the airborne bunch with their wings and natty DZ flashes, the odd Combined Ops outfit, Air Dispatchers and the EOD fraternity with their well-earned bomb badges.

Unfortunately, for some, this is far too simple and a whole system that went out with the ark was reintroduced; and of consequence TRFs abound in varying shades, colours and hues; denoting brigade and parent unit in all manner of both traditional and whimsical designs.

To add insult to the seemingly never ending fuck about of removing and re-sewing badges, TRFs are non-issue and are purchased from soldiers' own funds - though there is some discrepancy between units.

On the whole, they weren't really needed. They aren't liked and they're largely pointless due mostly to soldiers wearing different coloured hats with badges on them that tells the rest of the Army exactly who you are and what you do. All the more reason to keep them then?

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Tactical Recognition Flashes of the Regiments of the British Army

Household Cavalry
The Blues and Royals and The Life Guards
Royal Armoured Corps
Heavy Cavalry
Queen's Dragoon Guards	Royal Scots Dragoon Guards	Royal Dragoon Guards
Light Cavalry
Queen's Royal Hussars	9th/12th Royal Lancers	King's Royal Hussars
Light Dragoons	Queen's Royal Lancers
The Royal Tank Regiment
1st and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment
The Yeomanry
Royal Yeomany	Queen's Own Yeomanry	Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
Royal Wessex Yeomanry
Infantry
Foot Guards
Grendier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards
Line Infantry and Rifles
Royal Regiment of Scotland	Princess of Wales's Regiment	Duke of Lancaster's Regiment
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	Royal Anglian Regiment (1st Battalion)	Royal Anglian Regiment (2nd Battalion)
Royal Anglian Regiment (3rd Battalion)	Yorkshire Regiment	Royal Welsh
Mercian Regiment	Royal Irish	The Parachute Regiment (DZ Patches)
Royal Gurkha Rifles	The Rifles
Special Forces
NO INFO AVAILABLE Special Air Service	NO INFO AVAILABLE Special Recconnaisance Service
Support and Services
Support
Royal Artillery	Royal Engineers	Royal Signals Corps
NO INFO AVAILABLE Army Air Corps	NO BADGE ISSUED Intelligence Corps
Services
Royal Army Dental Corps	Royal Army Medical Corps	Royal Army Veterinary Corps
Royal Logistic Corps	Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers	Adjutant General's Corps (SPS Branch shown, other flashes are issued for neccessary branch, ie. MPGS, ETS, ALS)
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps	NO INFO AVAILABLE Royal Army Chaplains Corps	Army Physical Training Corps
NO INFO AVAILABLE Small Arms School Corps	NO INFO AVAILABLE Corps of Army Music	NO BADGE ISSUED General Service Corps
Other Branches of the Armed Forces
Royal Air Force	Royal Navy
Miscellaneous TRF's
The Pathfinder Platoon	13 Air Assault Support Regt RLC	7 Air Assault Bn REME
9 Regt AAC

Please Note: Where No Info Available is shown, the writer has not been able to find conclusive information either way, concering a flash being issued. If you are a member of one of the regiments unrepresented with a flash, please feel free to insert your own, or send me (dhgrainger1) a picture if you're unsure of how.