The British army ends its 38-year role in support of the police in Northern Ireland tomorrow, the longest military operation in its history, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
Operation Banner, the name given to the mobilisation of troops in Belfast in 1969 to support the RUC, formally ends at midnight tomorrow, bringing to an end a military exercise in which 763 members of British forces died.
The last soldier to die was Stephen Restorick, who was shot by a sniper in south Armagh in February 1997.
Soldiers will remain stationed in Northern Ireland in preparation for possible deployment anywhere in the world.
However their numbers will not exceed 5,000, a level described by the army as a "normal peacetime garrison", and roughly the same number present when the large-scale street conflict erupted in 1969.
According to British armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth, troops will retain a limited and very specific role with the capacity to deploy in support of the PSNI in extreme cases of public disorder. However this is not anticipated.
Col Wayne Harber, based at army headquarters, told The Irish Times that such deployment would only be considered if the public order situation was "dire".
"It would need to be 1969 stuff," he said.
"Wednesday marks the beginning of a new era for the UK armed forces in Northern Ireland," Mr Ainsworth told MPs last week.
"As with other parts of the country, the military will become very much part of the community. "
A commemoration for those who died under Operation Banner is planned for next spring.
The army presence, currently around 5,600, has been steadily dropping since August 1st, 2005, under "security normalisation" or demilitarisation plans put into action in the days immediately after the formal announcement by the IRA that it was standing down.
At its peak in 1972, the combined British armed forces presence in Northern Ireland was some 27,000, although this steadily decreased until 1992 and the early years of the peace process when 18,200 soldiers were still deployed.
Overall some 300,000 British military personnel have been in Northern Ireland since 1969, stationed at more than 100 army bases. At the height of the Troubles there were 15 battalions in Belfast alone.
The number of bases has also been steadily reduced and the hilltop army posts along the south Armagh Border have been dismantled under a strict timetable and overseen by the Independent Monitoring Commission.
There are 17 military sites still in use although this is forecast to fall to 10 in the longer term.
Sinn Féin has welcomed confirmation that "the almost 40-year British military occupation of the Six Counties, will end on July 31st".
Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy said: "Not only was land stolen from local people, but communities were harassed and spy posts and other war apparatus blighted this area."
Col Harber responded saying: "We are content for Conor Murphy to say whatever he needs to say. Actually we have worked with Sinn Féin to get out of south Armagh."
He added: "I will give him respect for his view because he is part of the political process."