Adjutant General's Corps | |
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Active | 6 April 1992 – present |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Role | Administrative services |
Garrison/HQ | Worthy Down Camp, Winchester [1] |
Motto(s) | Animo et fide (With resolution and fidelity) |
March | Quick March. Pride of lions; Slow march. Greensleeves |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester |
Insignia | |
Tactical Recognition Flash |
Arms of the British Army |
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Combat Arms |
Combat Support Arms |
Combat Services |
The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 people.
The corps was formed on 6 April 1992 through the amalgamation of several separate services: [2]
In October 2022, to celebrate the Corps' 30th anniversary, a parade was held in Winchester, in the presence of The Duchess of Gloucester, Deputy Colonel in Chief. [3]
The AGC is organised into the following branches: [2]
The SPS branch provides specialist HR, Finance, Accounting and ICT support to the British Army, during peacetime and on operations. Its personnel serve alongside and administer every unit in the British Army. The branch also provides clerical support to headquarters at all levels including various departments of the MOD Head Office in Whitehall and the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood working alongside counterparts in the Royal Navy and RAF, as well as in divisional and brigade headquarters and at unit and sub-unit level through Land Forces. In addition to HR, administrative and clerical support, the SPS Branch also maintains the Army Welfare Service, where its small cohort of Army Welfare Workers - trained social and occupational welfare specialists - provide therapeutic support to Army personnel and their families. [4]
In 2011, Gurkha clerks and administrative personnel who, up to that point, had served under the Royal Gurkha Rifles cap badge, were brought into a single unit titled the Gurkha Staff and Personnel Support Company (GSPS Coy). Following the traditions of the Queen's Gurkha Engineers, Queen's Gurkha Signals and the Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, the GSPS Coy has a cap badge that combines elements of both its parent corps (the AGC) and the Brigade of Gurkhas, of which it is a constituent alongside the other Gurkha units in the British Army. [5]
The AGC Pro unifies two former services which, while no longer independent, retain their identities and cap badges. The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the Army's police force, while the Military Provost Staff (MPS) provides guards for military prisons. The newly formed Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) is also part of this branch. [6]
The ETS Branch has the responsibilities of the former Royal Army Educational Corps, it is an all officer branch with around 400 serving members. In 2006 the former RAEC cap badge of a 'fluted flambeau with five flames, with crown and scroll' was reintroduced, with 'ETS' replacing 'R.A.E.C.' on the scroll. [7]
The ALS Branch provides legal advice to all levels of the Army. It retains the cap badge of the former Army Legal Corps. Prior to its amalgamation into the AGC, it was an independent corps in its own right. Its personnel are all qualified lawyers and commissioned officers. [8]
Almost all corps of the British Army contain a CRHQ (Central Reserve Headquarters) which oversee training for the corps along with controlling specialist units and formations. The Adjutant General's Corps currently maintains two specialist pools: [9]
The Museum of the Adjutant General's Corps is based at Peninsula Barracks in Winchester. It is one of several regimental museums that are part of Winchester's Military Museums. [10]
Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name which refers to all the units in the British Army that are composed of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. The brigade draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Army prior to Indian independence, and prior to that served for the East India Company. The brigade includes infantry, engineering, signal, logistic and training and support units. They are known for their khukuri, a distinctive heavy knife with a curved blade, and have a reputation for being fierce and brave soldiers.
The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications and information systems essential to all operations. Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world. The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators to run radio and area networks in the field. It is responsible for installing, maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment and information systems, providing command support to commanders and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy communications.
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers".
The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises. Members of the RMP are often known as 'Redcaps' because of the scarlet covers on their peaked caps and scarlet coloured berets.
The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the United Kingdom nor a member of the Commonwealth.
The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong. Throughout the history of Hong Kong, it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP).
The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992.
The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant General's Corps.
The uniforms of the British Army currently exist in twelve categories ranging from ceremonial uniforms to combat dress. Uniforms in the British Army are specific to the regiment to which a soldier belongs. Full dress presents the most differentiation between units, and there are fewer regimental distinctions between ceremonial dress, service dress, barrack dress and combat dress, though a level of regimental distinction runs throughout.
The Military Provost Staff are the British Army's specialists in custody and detention, providing advice inspection and surety within custodial establishments. The MPS form part of the Adjutant General's Corps and are based at the Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC) in Colchester, Essex.
The Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) is responsible for maintaining physical security at British Armed Forces locations throughout Great Britain. It is one of three constituent units of the Adjutant General's Corps Provost Branch. The Provost branch is the responsibility of the Provost Marshal who is a Brigadier from the Royal Military Police. The MPGS also works alongside the unarmed Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS). In Northern Ireland, armed security at Ministry of Defence establishments is provided by the uniformed civilian Northern Ireland Security Guard Service in a similar manner to that of the MPGS in Great Britain.
Provosts are military police (MP) whose duties are policing solely within the armed forces of a country, as opposed to gendarmerie duties in the civilian population. However, many countries use their gendarmerie for provost duties.
The Educational and Training Services Branch form part of the Adjutant General's Corps and have done since 1992 when this Corps of the British Army was formed. Their remit is to continue the general education of soldiers and officers alike, as well as the military training of the soldiers of the Army.
MOD Worthy Down is a tri-service establishment in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It forms part of the wider Winchester Garrison and houses the headquarters of the Defence School of Logistics and Administration (DSLA), as well as the headquarters of the Royal Logistic Corps and Adjutant General's Corps. DSLA provides logistic support, personnel administration and leadership training to all three armed services. The site is north of Winchester, between the villages of South Wonston and Kings Worthy.
The Adjutant General's Corps, formerly the Adjutant General's Department, is a branch of the United States Army first established in 1775. This branch provides personnel service support by manning the force, providing human resources services, coordinating personnel support, Army band operations, and recruiting and retention. The objective of the Adjutant General Corps is to "maximize operational effectiveness of the total force by anticipating, manning, and sustaining military operations. HR support operations accomplish this by building, generating, and sustaining the force providing combatant commanders the required forces for missions and supporting leaders and Soldiers at all levels."
Winchester's Military Museums are a group of six independent and related regimental museums in Peninsula Barracks and Lower Barracks in Winchester, Hampshire.
The Adjutant General's Corps Museum, also known as The AGC Museum is a visitor attraction at Peninsula Barracks in Winchester. It displays the history of the Adjutant General's Corps and its antecedents through objects, text, photographs, and dioramas.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
This is a list of units of the British Army's Royal Engineers.