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Formed in 1970 , it was designed to replace the controversial B-Specials of Northern Ireland . Throughout its history the UDR was dogged by accusations of collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries, many of whose members were also serving UDR soldiers, and had a reputation for brutality and maltreatment of civilians. Brigadier David Millar, the former commandant of the Fifth Battalion ( County Londonderry ), once admitted that if he expelled any of his soldiers for belonging to an illegal Loyalist paramilitary group, he would be left without a regiment. The regiment was reduced to first nine battalions in 1984 , then to seven in 1991 through amalgamations, before being amalgamated as a whole with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment , after many calls for their disbandment. In 1990 British Secretary Of State Peter Brooke described them as committed to " Justice , decency and Democracy ". Between April 1 , 1970 and June 30 , 1992 , a total of 197 members of the UDR were killed during the Troubles. Two UDR men were killed by British soldiers, three by loyalist paramilitaries, and the remaining 192 by republican paramilitaries (mainly the Provisional IRA ). During this time the UDR killed (officially) six civilians and two members of the IRA. Many unionist politicians in Northern Ireland today are former members of the UDR. This is the only unit in the history of the British Army to have been on operational deployment for its entire history, from the moment it was created until it was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992. CONTROVERSY Two UDR soldiers, who were also members of the Ulster Volunteer Force , were convicted of the 1975 murder of three members of the Miami Showband in a Ulster Volunteer Force attack. In 1989 , 28 UDR soldiers were arrested by the Royal Ulster Constabulary as part of the Stevens Inquiry into security force Collusion with paramilitaries. Six of those arrested were later awarded damages over their arrests. In 1999 David Jordan, a former UDR soldier, broke down in a bar and admitted to being part of a patrol that killed Nationalist councillor Patsy Kelly in 1974 . Jordan also implicated former Democratic Unionist Party Northern Ireland Assembly member Oliver Gibson in the murder. STRUCTURE Initially, seven . BATTALIONS
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