The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) is the senior armoured regiment of the Canadian Army by precedence. It is one of three armoured regiments in the Regular Force and forms part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.
The colonel-in-chief of the RCD is Charles III, King of Canada. The colonel of the regiment is Major-General (Retired) Stephen Cadden, CD.
The commanding officer is Lieutenant-Colonel C. Summerfield, and the regimental sergeant major is Chief Warrant Officer J. Nickerson.
The regiment is composed of Regimental Headquarters, "A", "B", "C", "D" and Headquarters Squadrons. "A", "B" and "D" Squadrons, based at CFB Petawawa, are light cavalry squadrons. "C" Squadron is based at CFB Gagetown, and the squadron consists of both Dragoons and members of 12e Régiment blindé du Canada. Headquarters Squadron, based in Petawawa, provides first-line combat service support to the regiment.
Originated 21 December 1883 in Quebec City, Quebec as the Cavalry School Corps
Redesignated 14 May 1892 as the Canadian Dragoons
Amalgamated 27 June 1892 with the Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps in Winnipeg, Manitoba (lineage below): retaining its designation
Redesignated 24 May 1893 as The Royal Canadian Dragoons
Redesignated 16 October 1946 as the 1st Armoured Regiment (Royal Canadian Dragoons), RCAC
Redesignated 2 March 1949 as the Royal Canadian Dragoons (1st Armoured Regiment)
Redesignated 19 May 1958 as Royal Canadian Dragoons
Redesignated 12 January 1959 as The Royal Canadian Dragoons
The Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps
Originated 20 July 1885 in Winnipeg, Manitoba as the School of Mounted Infantry
Redesignated 7 August 1891 as the Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps
Amalgamated 27 June 1892 with the Canadian Dragoons
Formed on December 21, 1883 as the Cavalry School Corps, The Royal Canadian Dragoons is the senior cavalry regiment in the Canadian Army and was Canada's first professional, full-time cavalry unit. It was originally organized as a troop (the then-company-sized British Army cavalry maneuver sub-unit, today regarded as a squadron) and was commanded by Captain (Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel) J.F. Turnbull of Quebec City's Queen's Own Canadian Hussars. The first Regimental Sergeant-Major was Sergeant-Major George Baxter, recruited by Lt.-Col. Turnbull from the British Army's 4th Dragoon Guards at Aldershot along with two other British Army Sergeant-Instructors from the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 15th The King's Hussars.
The Cavalry School Corps mobilized A Troop on 10 April 1885 for active service during the North-West Rebellion. It served with the Alberta Column of the North-West Field Force until it was removed from active service on 18 September 1885. A Troop patrolled the Touchwood Hills in Saskatchewan to secure lines of communication and saw no active combat.