Quote:
Originally Posted by mojaveman
I've always found some of the titles in the British Army interesting.
"The Coldstream Guards"
"The Royal Highland Fusiliers"
"The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders"
The American ones sound so ordinary don't they?
"Americas Guard of Honor"
"The Screaming Eagles"
"The Dark Horse"
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That's because of the Home Regiment system they have. Regiments were named largely for the area they were recruited from rather than numerically, much like our volunteer regiments of the War Between the States. The Louisiana Tiger Zouaves comes to mind.
Most Americans think The Light Brigade was a regiment because of Kipling's poem when it was actually a brigade of 5 regiments.
Of Course, the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, and the 8th and 11th Hussars doesn't rhyme well with, "Oh the wild charge they made"