The Ulster Service Corps (USC) was a loyalist vigilante group with a paramilitary structure active in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s.
[1] Made up of former members of the Ulster Special Constabulary it retained much of that organisation's structure and enjoyed strong support in some rural areas of Northern Ireland.
[5] During a speech in the House of Commons Ian Paisley even claimed that he had participated in these patrols and both he and Ernest Baird promoted the USC and encouraged their supporters to seek membership of the group.
The USC itself confirmed that it worked with members of both the UDR and the Royal Ulster Constabulary although the security forces strenuously denied that any such activity took place.
[3] Nonetheless its claims to be purely a defensive organisation were accepted and, as was the case with the Ulster Defence Association at the time, no attempt was made to ban the group.