Regulars are best

Published on 16/11/2012 00:00

Defence Minister Philip Hammond is in the throes of sacking 20,000 mature trained servicemen who have no future to look forward to. He has recently announced that he is about to double the army reserve force.

As a former soldier with some 40 years’ service I am sure commanders will want to go into combat with a battalion of men who he knows and who have had 365 days’ training in the year as opposed to having a group of reservists who have had a maximum of 40 training days.

He will also want to get his battalion complete and ready to go, and not wait to see how many reservists have called off, or whose bosses have refused to let them go.

Does this not smack of the pre-war days?

(Major) Bob Ritchie

Bloom Court

Livingston