the appointment of non-commissioned officers (ncos) was carried out in a variety of ways too. in most cases men were selected who had previously held non-commissioned rank in any of the armed forces or the usc. in at least one case (2 udr) they were chosen by the men themselves. in some battalions men were appointed as lance corporals (l/cpl) on a duty-by-duty basis to assess their worth. in the newry (c) company of 3 udr, many of the recruits had formerly been soldiers in the local territorial company of the royal irish fusiliers, including the company commander. it was a simple matter to appoint men who had previously been his ncos and he supplemented these with former sergeants from the usc. the filling of senior nco posts in this manner did have a drawback in that many men of comparatively young ages who had considerable years of service before retirement or promotion created a "promotion block".