Ulster Defence Regiment: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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It consisted mostly of part-time volunteers until 1976 when a full-time [[En cadre|cadre]] was added.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.royalirishassociation.org/history |title=History |publisher=Royalirishassociation.org |accessdate=2013-07-17}}</ref> Recruiting in Northern Ireland at a time of intercommunal strife, manya small number of its (mostly [[Ulster Protestant]]) members were involved in sectarianism and others in collusion with [[Ulster loyalist]] paramilitary organisations.<ref name=subversion>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/publicrecords/1973/subversion_in_the_udr.htm CAIN Archive:Public Records: Subversion in the UDR] Although initially written in 1973, the report was only opened to the public in 2004.</ref> The regiment was intended to be [[nonpartisan]], and began with Catholic recruits accounting for 18% of its soldiers; however due to various circumstances, by the end of 1972, this dropped to around 3%.<ref>Potter, page 67</ref>

It is doubtful if any other unit of the British Army has ever come under the same sustained criticism as the UDR.<ref>Potter 381</ref>