Irish in the British Armed Forces March and are presented with shamrocks. The Royal Irish and the Irish Guards have an Irish Wolfhound as their military mascot, named "Brian Boru IX" and "Domhnall," respectively. Irish in the British Armed Forces The Irish in the British Armed Forces refers to the history of Irish people serving in the British Armed Forces (including the British Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and other elements). Ireland was then as part of the United Kingdom from 1800-1922 and during this time in particular many Irishmen fought in the British Army. Different social classes joined the military for various
Structure of the British Armed Forces in 1989 Structure of the British Armed Forces in 1989 At the end of the Cold War in 1989 the British Armed Forces structure was as follows: In 1989 the British Armed Forces had a peacetime strength of 311,600 men and defense expenditures were 4.09% of GDP. Joint establishments were tri-service units providing services to all three branches of the British Armed Forces/ The Defence Operations Executive, led by the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Naval, General, and Air Staffs, supervised the Joint Operations Centre which in turn passed orders to the forces