text: Rifle regiments By tradition, rifle regiments do not carry colours; this goes back to their formation, when they were used as skirmishers and sharpshooters. While individual units may have had banners or pennants to distinguish themselves from other units, regiments as a whole never needed a full stand of colours. Today, the two rifle regiments in the British Army, The Rifles and the Royal Gurkha Rifles carry their battle honours on their drums, while the Royal Green Jackets also had theirs inscribed on their cap badge; this tradition is maintained by The Rifles, who wear the Maltese cross badge of the Royal Green Jackets, inscribed with the regimental honours, as the belt badge. In place of a regimental colour, the Gurkhas carry the Queen's Truncheon awarded in 1863.
  The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment was the first modern non-British regiment to receive truncheons when they were awarded to that unit in 2017. In 2019, a similar truncheon, the Rana Parashuwa, was granted to the Sri Lanka Army Special Forces Regiment, the first of their kind granted to a Commonwealth special forces formation. Formerly, the Malaysian Army Royal Ranger Regiment was granted a regimental truncheon in 1966.
  In India, colours or banners are given instead of truncheons, following Russian practice and in line with the ancient Indian traditions of old, to all the rifle and scout infantry regiments by the president of India.
  Colours in the cavalry regiments