Gambia Armed Forces defence and security in The Gambia was the responsibility of the Field Force. The Field Force was a paramilitary unit of the police, consisting of roughly 140 men at independence and rising to around 500 in 1980. It has been formed in 1958 following the disbandment of the Gambia Regiment, part of the British Army. There was little concern about security in The Gambia due to its small size and the safety provided by being totally surrounded by Senegal, with which it had signed a mutual defence pact in 1965. This lax attitude to defence changed following the 1981 coup
Gambia Regiment defence. It was then decided that it should raise an additional reserve company. In 1937, the company won the Africa Cup of the Army Rifle Association, the first time it had been one by a RWAFF unit that was not from the Nigeria Regiment. In 1940, mention was first made of a Gambia Regiment FC that played against other local association football teams. In early 1940, with concern mounting about possible invasion of West African colonies by Vichy France, it was decided that the Gambia Company should be raised to the strength of a battalion, and renamed the Gambia Regiment.