Editing Ulster Defence Regiment (section)

===Uniform===
[[File:UDR Soldiers - South Armagh.jpg|thumb|left|Soldiers of 11 UDR on a patrol break in the South Armagh area. The soldier on the right is carrying a jamming device to prevent the detonation of radio-controlled [[improvised explosive device]]s.]]

The early image of the regiment, due to equipment and uniform shortages, was of a rag-tag bunch using [[World War II]] weaponry, old army uniforms and carrying pockets full of loose change in order to make reports from public telephone boxes. Many of the soldiers were veterans of earlier campaigns with the British Army or had been in the Special Constabulary and were middle-aged; this earned them the public nickname of "[[Dad's Army]]" – the sobriquet given to the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] during World War II.

[[File:Royal Irish and UDR badges side-by-side.jpg|thumb|right|200px|This illustration shows how the badge of the UDR (right) was created from the badge of the Ulster Rifles (left).]]

After equipment shortages were resolved, male soldiers dressed in a similar fashion to regular army units. Camouflage jackets were worn and headgear was a distinctive dark green [[beret]] with a gold coloured "Maid of Erin" style harp, surmounted by [[St Edward's Crown]] (in later years this was dulled down by blackening, a common practice for units of the British army when wearing [[Cap badge#Cap badge variations|cap badges]] on operational duties).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.royaltankregiment.com/en-GB/capbadgemotto.aspx|title=Cap Badge/Motto – The Royal Tank Regiment Association<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=29 July 2013|archive-date=5 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005000414/http://www.royaltankregiment.com/en-GB/capbadgemotto.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> The badge was a direct copy of the Royal Ulster Rifles cap badge with the [[Latin]] [[motto]] removed from its base. Female "Greenfinch" soldiers wore combat jackets and [[rifle green]] skirts with the UDR beret and cap badge. For [[ceremonial]] occasions men wore a rifle green version of British Army ([[Uniforms of the British Army#No.1: Temperate ceremonial|No.1 Temperate ceremonial]]). Female "best dress" was a rifle green jacket and skirt. The beret was retained as headgear for men and women in best dress.  On the formation of operations platoons, narrow coloured slides were adopted and worn on the shoulder straps in battalion colours. These indicated to the trained eye that the wearers were full-time soldiers. They were dispensed with as the operations platoons expanded into full-time [[Company (military unit)#British Army|rifle companies]] and were replaced by battalion-specific epaulette slides. Rank badges were as for infantry [[British Army Other Ranks rank insignia|NCOs]] and [[British Army officer rank insignia|officers]] and worn in the same fashion.