The regiment was part of 15 (North East) Brigade and was the Territorial unit of infantry in the area stretching from Scarborough in North Yorkshire, to Alnwick in Northumberland.

On 4 July 2003, a composite company was dispatched to Iraq and was the first TA Infantry unit to be compulsorily mobilised since the Suez Crisis in 1956.

The three platoons deployed served at Basra Palace, Basra Airport and Shaibah Logistics Base and were rotated around at intervals during this difficult and unstable period in Iraq's history.

[3] In 2004, a platoon was deployed to Iraq as part of Normandy Company of The East and West Riding Regiment.

During this tour, Normandy Company suffered one fatality, Private Mark Stephen Dobson of the Tyne-Tees Regiment, who was found dead in his accommodation at Basrah Air Station on 28 March 2005.