Analysis: Long may this outpouring of respect and admiration for our troops continue

AS THE Red Arrows thundered over Edinburgh - possibly for the final time in the face of yet more withering defence cuts - there would be those wondering what all this fuss was all about. Jets and highly trained pilots like these would not come cheap, nor the massive security operation.

Surely we get enough bands, bayonets and bugles at Armistice Day, not to mention the camouflage-clad warriors now thrusting their way down high streets as part of their homecoming celebrations from Afghanistan?

Gordon Brown, the architect of these latest celebrations "of today's and yesterday's living armed forces", was at Holyrood on Saturday wearing a cheesy grin. So, too, were the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, Prime Minister David Cameron, the Chief of the Defence Staff and, never willingly undersold, our furiously glad-handing First Minister. As far as the eye could see, medal-wearing veterans, cadets, bands, soldiers, sailors and airmen paraded proudly.

"Big Gordie", a former chancellor not known for his empathy with the warrior classes, seems to have found something that chimes with the Scottish public. It is estimated 35,000 people paid homage to our troops' tenacity at Holyrood on Saturday alone, multiplied further by events in Glasgow, Ayr and other council areas.

A further irony is that military uniforms disappeared from our streets 40 years ago due to the threat of IRA bombs and it has taken more recent bombs, this time laid by Taleban fighters thousands of miles away in Helmand, to bring them back.

This has been accompanied by a public outpouring of what seems genuine affection and respect for our soldiers and veterans - perhaps nowhere yet on the scale of how Americans celebrate their armed forces. Long may our more stiff-lipped homage continue, and well after we withdraw from Afghanistan and Libya.

There have been more tangible benefits, too. South Ayrshire Council opened a new "drop-in" centre for veterans this week. Similarly, the Scottish Government has announced plans for new allowances to be paid to the children of those killed in action. No longer does Kipling's enjoinder about "Tommy this, and Tommy that, and chuck him out the brute" seem to apply. Today's troops and physically and mentally wounded veterans enjoy better support than they have ever done - though more could still be done.

Lets hope, despite all the razzmatazz, that our youngsters will see all this for what it is: recognition of professionalism in an uncertain world. Perhaps modern communications and television are finally bringing these home truths to us all in far more immediate and vivid terms.

• Clive Fairweather is a former deputy commander of the SAS.