British Army Order of Precedence
Explanation of the British Army Order of Military Precedence and its significance for the QARANC
When on parade Regiments and Corps of the British Army have an Order of Precedence with the most senior being on the right. This isn't just a way to stop a free for all forming up with a battle of the fittest to get to the front of any parade. As with all things military it is about order and practicality. Though Units, Regiments of Infantry and Cavalry no longer form up on battlefields and that historically this was always met for operational and command factors, the history for the order of seniority still exists from these down to include the supporting arms and services. This practical purpose maintains discipline and a degree of order.
The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps are in penultimate place, below the Royal Army Physical Training Corps and above the Royal Corps of Army Music. The Royal Army Medical Corps is higher and between the Royal Logistic Corps and the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. There is a full list at Wikipedia.
So this explains why the QAs march down the steps of the Royal Albert Hall during the Festival of Remembrance service and at the Cenotaph towards the rear! It also explains the position of the recently laid NMA Heroes Square Paving Stone.
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My PTSD assistance dog, Lynne, and I have written a book about how she helps me with my military Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I talk about my time in the QAs and the coping strategies I now use to be in my best health.
Along the way, I have had help from various military charities, such as Help for Heroes and The Not Forgotten Association and royalties from this book will go to them and other charities like Bravehound, who paired me with my four-legged best friend.
I talk openly about the death of my son by suicide and the help I got from psychotherapy and counselling and grief charities like The Compassionate Friends.
The author, Damien Lewis, said of Lynne:
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This beautiful QARANC Poppy Pin Badge is available from the Royal British Legion Poppy Shop.
For those searching military records, for information on a former nurse of the QAIMNS, QARANC, Royal Red Cross, VAD and other nursing organisations or other military Corps and Regiments, please try Genes Reunited where you can search for ancestors from military records, census, birth, marriages and death certificates as well as over 673 million family trees. At GenesReunited it is free to build your family tree online and is one of the quickest and easiest ways to discover your family history and accessing army service records.
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As an interesting point the Women's Royal Army Corps and the QA's were formed on the same day (1 February 1949) but in the Order of Precedence the QARANC were senior. It is thought that this may be due to their longer lineage, ie the QAIMNS, over the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
Regimental seniority is still rightly jealously guarded and the Order of Precedence is determined primarily by a combination of status, role and function and most particularly date of origin. So for example the Royal Scots, the old 1st of Foot, were extremely proud of their position as the senior Infantry regiment of the Line, ie non Foot Guards infantry.
Within the Army there is a definite order of seniority: Household troops (ie the Horse Cavalry and Foot Guards) come first, followed by the Cavalry/Royal Armoured Corps, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Royal Signals, Infantry and then the supporting arms and services in order of date of formation. The latter being where the QAs and RAMC fall in.
With changes to the Armed Forces over the decades, such as amalgamation of Regiments there comes movement up or down the Order of Precedence. This affects the whole of the Army but more especially the Infantry and, in recent times, the bulk of the supporting corps. The golden rule is that when two or more regiments or corps amalgamates to form a new regiment or corps, the new body takes the seniority of the senior amalgamating partner. Thus, the seniority of the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was determined by its senior component which was the Royal Corps of Transport (previously the Royal Army Service Corps).
As mentioned earlier, the QARANC, when it became part of the Army in 1949, held penultimate place after the Army Catering Corps and before the Women's Royal Army Corps. Although the WRAC and QARANC were formed on the same day, it is presumed that the latter were considered more senior because of their forebear being formed in 1902. The WRAC forebear, the ATS, was formed in 1938.
After the disbandment of the WRAC in April 1992 and the transfer of women to other Corps and regiments, the QARANC was 'tail end charlie'. However, they resumed their penultimate place once again with the formation of the Corps of Army Music (now Royal Corps of Army Music) in September 1994. Although army bands had supported their respective regiments and corps across the spectrum of the Order of Precedence for many decades, it was felt appropriate that they be placed at the bottom.
Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses a foreign jet fly over his Aberdeenshire home. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.
Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?
The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of former British army nurse, now horror and science fiction novel writer, C.G. Buswell.
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The death of the Brotherhood will be avenged.
RAF gunner Jason Harper and a team of Special Air Service operators are enraged after the death of their brothers by a terrorist drone strike. They fly into south-eastern Yemen on a Black-op mission to gather intelligence and avenge the death of their comrades.
Can they infiltrate the Al-Queda insurgents' camp, stay undetected, and call down their own drone missile strike and get home safely?
Will they all survive to fight another day?
Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
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