New kilt the 'final insult' to soldiers

THE three Lowland infantry regiments, whose members have traditionally worn tartan trews for centuries, will be forced to wear kilts when the government's planned new Scottish "super-regiment" is formed next year.

Outraged ex-servicemen, who already believe that the loss of their individual regiments is tantamount to erasing much of Scotland's military history, say the imposition of a uniform kilted dress code further erodes their regimental identity.

Campaigners for the three regiments - the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers and the Royal Highland Fusiliers - claim tartan trews have been worn by Scottish soldiers since the mid 17th century, almost 75 years before kilts were introduced.

"This government is doing to us what Hitler never managed to do, wiping us out and at the stroke of a pen," said Malcolm Nichol, former secretary of the Berwick branch of the King's Own Scottish Borderers and a member of the regiment for 26 years.

"We are very, very angry about this. The regiment will have no identity left at all and 316 years of history will be down the drain. It is heartbreaking. Everybody looks at Scottish soldiers and thinks we all wear the kilt. It is not true, we are proud to be Lowlanders, we don't want to be Highlanders," said Nichol.

Kilts are worn by the three existing Highland regiments, The Black Watch, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and The Highlanders. It is believed the Ministry of Defence favours the government tartan worn by the Argylls as the uniform for the new Scottish regiment.

The government plans to merge the KOSB and the Royal Scots into one battalion then amalgamate it with the remaining four regiments to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland. According to campaigners, the Council of Scottish Colonels, which rubber-stamped the amalgamation, is now "squabbling" over the precise details of the new regiment's uniform.

Retired KOSB Brigadier Allan Allstead said: "We are losing everything, we are being absolutely done down in the biggest possible way and I feel particularly bitter about the way it has been done."

Charlie McGrogan, a former colour sergeant with the Royal Scots, said: "It looks as thought someone in the Ministry of Defence has sat down and gone through his book of English prejudices and decided to sort Scotland out. All these prejudices are coming to roost in the new uniform."

Regimental secretary of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, Major William Shaw, said, "When people talk about Scotland overseas the image is kilts. When I heard about this, people of my vintage were saying 'no way'." But he admitted: "The young element in the regiment don't seem to mind."

A spokesman for the Army in Scotland confirmed the decision had been taken by the Scottish Council of Colonels that the new regiment should wear kilts. But he added: "Each of the existing regiments will retain something from their uniforms, possibly hackles or flashes."