continued in this role until 1996, when it became part of the British Army's nuclear, biological and chemical defence regiment. It served in the NBC role until 1999. In that year, the Joint NBC Regiment was formed as a joint regular Army and Royal Air Force unit composed of four squadrons of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and 27 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment. In January 2003, the Westminster Dragoons and A (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron were mobilised (along with augmentees from the Royal Yeomanry's three other squadrons and from the Royal Logistic Corps) for the impending war in Iraq. Together, these mobilised elements became a much-enlarged squadron of the Joint NBC Regiment. Westminster Dragoons found themselves serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade, 7 Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) and 3 Commando Brigade as NBC specialists, before switching roles to infantry "peace support" operations once Saddam Hussein's regime had collapsed. The squadron also provided individual replacements for Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. Following the Army 2020 review, the squadron's role became that of light cavalry: providing a rapidly deployable force with fast mobility and substantial firepower as part of the British Army's combat arm. Its soldiers provide reconnaissance, reassurance, security and, if the situation demands it, decisive tactical effects by raiding and attacking the enemy. Uniforms and insignia The Imperial Yeomanry's service dress was Khaki with a Slouch hat, officially replaced by a Service cap in 1906. Thanks to Col Burns' links to King Edward VII, the regimental flash worn on the pagri of the Slouch hat and later Wolseley helmet consisted, with Royal permission, of the King's horseracing colours of purple, gold and red (still used today for the WD's stable belt, see above). However, when the regiment marched into Palestine with XX Corps in 1917 the flash may have been changed to red, white and blue. The regiment's full dress uniform was a scarlet Dragoon tunic with purple facings, blue overalls (tight fitting cavalry trousers) or pantaloons with a single yellow stripe, and a white metal Dragoon helmet with purple plume. The unique plume was changed to white in 1910, shortly after King Edward's funeral, when a detachment of Westminster Dragoons lined the street at Marble Arch: it is thought that the purple dye had run in the rain. The other ranks' cap and collar badge was the pre-1965 Coat of arms of the City of Westminster, with portcullis