The origin of the volunteer movement was in 1861 when the Governor wrote to the War Office for appl of such a movement. The Volunteer movement grew out of a civilian rifle club and was broad – based for infantry soldiering by a proclamation issued by the Lieutenant Governor (Sir John Douglas KCMG) in the Govt Gazette on 01 April 1881 authorizing the formation of “ The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers “
With the proclamation of the Republic of Sri Lanka on 22nd May 1972 the nomenclature of the Ceylon Volunteer Force changed to the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force .
Success of an organization always depends on it’s structure and the efficiency of the staff, and the way of discharging the duties entrusted to achieve the goals that were identified.
At the beginning of the Vol Force in Sri Lanka, it possessed a small Force. It had the strength of a little more than a thousand which helped to maintain sovereignty of the country. It was later developed to seven units in 1910 and subsequently increased up to 55 Bns in 1998. The SLAVF has been expanded to 85 Bns with one training School. Those can be visibled under the ” Battalions “.