Over 3,000 miles from home, and still training hard. More than 100 soldiers of the Royal Bermuda Regiment travelled to the UK in May 2026 for Exercise Active Shield 26, the battalion's annual overseas camp and the focal point of its collective training year. The exercise opened at Lydd Camp in Kent, where RBR troops alongside eight members of the Cayman Islands Regiment worked through public order scenarios in a purpose-built facility with The Royal Lancers playing the role of the crowd. By the time the camp wrapped at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, the syllabus had expanded to include 300-metre range work, urban operations, and baton gun familiarization.
The weapon on the range is the L104A2, the current British Army baton gun derived from the Heckler & Koch HK69A1 platform and chambered in 37mm. Unlike earlier smoothbore riot guns in British service, the L104 uses a rifled barrel specifically to improve accuracy with the L21A1 plastic baton round, reducing the risk of unintentional strikes to vulnerable areas.
The RBR has been a reserve battalion of the British Army since its formation in 1965 through the amalgamation of the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, and it received its "Royal" designation in 2015 on its 50th anniversary. Exercises like Active Shield are how an island regiment of around 350 volunteers stays ready for whatever Bermuda needs.
Photos by Cpl. Vincent Price / UK MOD © Crown Copyright 2026
