battalion was reduced to a three rifle company establishment, losing D Company to the Devon and Dorsets, and both B and C companies to the 2nd Battalion. After this the structure consisted of: HQ Company, at Le Marchant Barracks, Devizes. Mortar Platoon at Andover; Anti-Tank Platoon at Stroud; Reconnaissance Platoon at Cheltenham; and Pioneer Platoon at Cinderford A Company 1 Plt, at Gloucester A Company 2 Plt & 3 Plt, at Bristol(from the Bristol platoons of A Company, and 245 Ambulance Squadron, 155 Transport Regiment) A Company Recce Plt, at Forest of Dean C Company, at Cheltenham and Tewkesbury In 1995, the battalion amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion, to form 2nd (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. 2nd Battalion The 2nd Battalion, Wessex Volunteers was formed on 1 April 1971 from cadres of units that had been reduced in the formation of the TAVR, before being re-designated as the 2nd Battalion, Wessex Regiment (Volunteers) a year later in 1972. Its initial structure was as follows: HQ Company, at Brock Barracks, Reading B(Royal Buckinghamshire Yeomanry) Company, at Bletchley(from the Buckinghamshire Regiment, Royal Artillery) A (Duke of Connaught's) Company, at Portsmouth(from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Territorials) C (Royal Berkshire) Company, at Maidenhead, Slough, and Newbury(from the Royal Berkshire Territorials) D (Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry) Company, at Poole, Bournemouth, and Weymouth(from the Dorset Territorials) At the height of the Cold War, the British Army decided to raise a home defence force, namely the Home Service Force. This saw the majority of territorial infantry battalions across the United Kingdom raise a HSF company, with platoons distributed across the battalion company locations. In light of this, the battalion raised E (HSF) Company in Reading, Maidenhead, Winchester, and Portsmouth. The battalion then underwent a re-organisation in 1986, and again in 1992, when the Home Service Force Company disbanded along with the rest of the force. In line with the territorial reductions at the end of the Cold War, the battalion was reduced to a three rifle company establishment. In 1995, the battalion amalgamated with the 1st Battalion, to form 2nd (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment; less C Company, which transferred to the Royal Yeomanry as D (Berkshire Yeomanry) Squadron. Honorary Colonels The Honorary Colonel throughout the regiment's existence were as follows: 1st Battalion 1967–1970: Bt. Colonel Sir Joseph W. Weld, 1970–1975: Colonel William Q. Roberts, 1975–1981: Major-General Glyn C.A.