[4] The regiment's formation was announced on 16 December 2004 by Geoff Hoon and General Sir Mike Jackson as part of the restructuring of the infantry.

During Op Telic 9 Private Luke Simpson of A Company, from Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire, was killed, becoming the regiment's first operational fatality.

[16] The 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) of the regiment were deployed to the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in September, 2007 in an 'Operational Mentoring and Liaison' role with the Afghan National Army.

Whilst there they took part in the Battle of Musa Qala during which Sgt Lee Johnson was killed shortly after 10am on 8 December 2007, in the lead up to the operation to retake the town from the Taliban forces, after his Vector armoured vehicle ran over a landmine.

[17] Sgt Johnson had previously received a MID for assisting his company commander, Major Jake Little, in extracting soldiers who were surrounded by Taliban fighters.

[18][20] The 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) returned to their barracks in Weeton, Lancashire during April, 2008 and were presented with their service medals at a parade there on 30 April 2008 by Major General Andrew Farquhar, Honorary Colonel of the Battalion, along with Brigadier Andrew Mackay, of 52 Infantry Brigade, and Brigadier Mike Griffiths, of 42 (North West) Brigade.

[21] B Company Group of 1st Battalion (Prince of Wales Own) deployed for six-months on Op OCULUS(K) as the last UK Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Task Force (ISR TF).

18-year-old Pte Jonathon Young, of Burma Company, was killed by an Improvised explosive device in Sangin, on Thursday 20 August, three weeks after arriving in Afghanistan.

[27] Their actions featured in a series of Newsnight programmes shown both during the deployment and after their return, which focused on OMLT 2 in Sangin under Major Rob Palfrey.

Two members of the Battalion were awarded the Military Cross, Lieutenant Colin Lunn of Doncaster, and Acting Corporal Andrew Wardle of Hetton-le-Hole in Sunderland.

The NCO from 1st Battalion (Prince of Wales Own) was serving as part of the Police Advisory Team which was tasked to respond to an incident at a checkpoint near Gereshk in Helmand Province, when the Ridgeback armoured vehicle he was travelling in rolled into a waterway.

[35] On 6 March 2012, six members of Corunna company, 3rd Battalion (Duke of Wellington's) were killed in the Lashkar Gah Durai region after their Warrior Armoured vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

On the 3 June 2012 Private Gregg Thomas Stone of Burma Company, 3 YORKS was killed in Nahr-e Saraj during an operation to apprehend a group of insurgents who had abducted a member of the Afghan Police.

[37] On 15 September 2012, Sergeant Gareth Thursby and Private Thomas Wroe of the 3rd Battalion were killed in Nahr-e Saraj by a rogue Afghan police officer.

[38] In February 2013, 16 soldiers serving with the reconnaissance platoon of 1st Battalion (Prince of Wales Own), staged a mutiny whilst on a training exercise in Kenya.

[42][43][44] In October 2014 the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that a team of about a dozen soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment's 2nd Battalion were training Kurdish forces in Iraq fighting Islamic State militants to use UK-supplied heavy machine guns.

The battalion operates from Army Reserve Centres across the regimental footprint with companies dispersed in Barnsley, Beverley, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sheffield and York.

[51] On St George's Day 23 April 2008, Paul and Phil Lee, the owners of the Cropton Brewery & New Inn, released a new beer called Yorkshire Warrior.

The Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Shaukat Ali, on behalf of the Borough, presented the Freedom Scroll to Colonel Simon Newton, who accepted the honour for the Regiment.