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Special Reserve, Supplementary Reserve and Army Emergency ReserveFor a large part of its history the unit shared its Drill Halls with Signals units of the Supplementary Reserve. Although fulfilling a similar function, this was not technically part of the Territorial Army but operated in a similar fashion, albeit with a different history and a lower training commitment. The Supplementary Reserve no longer exists, but the nearest modern equivalent is today’s Territorial Army Specialist Units, which do fewer training days each year than Independent TA units such as 42nd Signal Squadron. (Specialist Units were known as Sponsored Units until the mid-1980s.) Another key difference between Specialist Units and the old Supplementary Reserve is their structure. Specialist Units recruit country-wide and are administered from a Central Volunteer Headquarters (normally only one CVHQ exists for each arm of service), whereas most Supplementary Reserve units were spread throughout the country, co-located with TA units and storing their equipment in TA Drill Halls. Apart from less training time, the other difference between the Territorial Army and the Supplementary Reserve was historical, the Supplementary Reserve originated in the Militia, whereas the TA had its origins in the Volunteer Force. The Militia dates back to the ‘Trained Bands’ of the Middle Ages, pre-dating the idea of a Standing (Regular) Army. The Militia was later controlled by Parliament, at first limited to service in the United Kingdom, but later becoming a reserve for the Regular Army, serving overseas on a number of occasions in the 19th century. The Volunteer Force was a more recent formation with most Volunteer units starting as self-financed ‘private military clubs’ formed solely for home-defence. The Cardwell Reforms of 1881 created a certain amount of integration of the Militia and Volunteers with the Regular Army, but under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Militia and Volunteer Force both ceased to exist. In their place the Supplementary Reserve and Territorial Force were both created. Under new terms of service, Militia men were encouraged to join the Supplementary Reserve and Volunteers to join the Territorial Army.
Figure 8 - Diagrammatic History of the Militia, Special Reserve and Supplementary Reserve |
Still Recruiting...42 Signal Squadron is still recruiting spare-time soldiers to
train on Tuesday evenings, weekends, plus a 2-week exercise each year,
often abroad. |
