Editing Ulster Defence Regiment (section)

==Resignation of Catholic soldiers==
In 1970–71, Catholics made up about 36% of the population<ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/religion.htm#ni-rel-02 Catholic population in Northern Ireland]. [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN).</ref> and about 18% of the UDR.<ref name=Potter29/> By the end of 1972 the number of Catholics in the UDR had dropped to 3% and never rose above that figure again. There are a number of reasons for this. In the early years of the conflict, relations soured between the Catholic community and the Army. This was mainly due to incidents such as the [[Falls Curfew]], [[Operation Demetrius|internment]], [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] and [[Operation Motorman]]. There were also frequent claims of UDR soldiers abusing Catholics at checkpoints and during house searches.<ref name=bowden234>Brett Bowden & Michael T. Davis. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dZjj87U6v9AC&pg=PA234 Terror: From Tyrannicide to Terrorism]''. University of Queensland Press, 2008. p. 234</ref> Many Catholic soldiers left the regiment due to pressure and intimidation from their own community, and the IRA's policy of singling out Catholic soldiers for assassination.<ref name=bowden234/><ref>Mitchell, Thomas G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3PNt46aB_sYC&pg=PA55 ''Native Vs. Settler: Ethnic Conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland'']. p. 55</ref> Catholics within the regiment also reported being intimidated by Protestant fellow soldiers.<ref name=ryder45>Ryder, pp.45-46</ref> Other Catholics resigned in protest at what they saw as the Army's harsh and biased treatment of their community,<ref name=ryder45/> especially after Operation Demetrius (the introduction of internment). The ''Belfast Telegraph'' reported that 25% of the regiment's Catholics resigned in 1971, half of those in the months following Operation Demetrius. By the end of 1972, the vast majority had resigned or simply stopped turning up for duty.<ref>Potter p375</ref>

Senior officers attempted to halt the exodus of Catholics, allowing battalion commanders to appear on television (not usually permitted for the rank of lieutenant colonel in those days). Appeals were made to religious and political leaders and extra personal security measures were introduced. Brigadier Scott-Bowden's successor in 1972 was Brigadier [[Denis Ormerod]], a Catholic whose mother's family came from the Republic of Ireland. His second-in-command (Deputy Commander UDR), Colonel Kevin Hill, was also Catholic, as was his successor Colonel Paddy Ryan. Ormerod admitted in his memoirs that his religion and appointment as the senior Catholic Army officer in Northern Ireland helped him considerably in his rapport with religious leaders of his own faith but that these appointments created unease with Protestants leading to meetings with concerned unionist politicians including, notably, [[Ian Paisley]].<ref>Potter, p63</ref>

By 1981, less than 2% (160) of serving UDR soldiers were Catholic, the bulk of whom were ex-servicemen and women with the British Army from non-Irish backgrounds. Some were former regular British soldiers who had been deployed in Northern Ireland and later settled there. However, their Catholicism gave them little common ground with the Nationalist/Catholic community in Northern Ireland.<ref>Ryder p196</ref>