Royal Regiment of Scotland, Scottish Division, Army

IAN BRUCE,
Defence Correspondent
Glasgow Herald
January 18 2006

TWO out of every five soldiers in Scotland's new infantry super-regiment will be consigned permanently to bases in Germany and England.

Another 500-man battalion faces up to two years in Northern Ireland before learning its fate and final location.

Despite promises that a controversial Army restructuring would enable soldiers to put down roots, buy houses, find work for their wives and have continuity of schooling for their children, a lack of cash for barracks closer to home means units will stay where accommodation is available.

The Royal Regiment of Scotland's first battalion – the amalgamated Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers – is to go to Dreghorn barracks in Edinburgh, while the second battalion, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, is bound for Glencorse, near Penicuik, Midlothian. The third battalion, the Black Watch, is being deployed for a two-year garrison tour to Palace Barracks on the outskirts of Belfast.

The fourth, the Highlanders, will be sent to St Barbara's barracks in Fallingbostel, Germany, while the fifth battalion, the Argylls, is destined for the air assault role in Canterbury.

Army sources say the Black Watch may be redeployed to Fort George, near Inverness, as a permanent home once its Northern Ireland tour is over, but add there are no guarantees it will stay in Scotland.

The locations are meant to be "parent" bases for families while individual soldiers move between battalions to gain experience in armoured, heliborne and light infantry roles.

The RRS's official policy says the new arrangement will provide "improved continuity of role for the infantry as well as family stability". Under the traditional "arms plot", entire battalions moved to new locations every three to five years.

Units will still be expected to deploy on six-month tours to Iraq or Afghanistan when required and while wishes of recruits and trained soldiers will be taken into consideration on postings, "the needs of the regiment will come first".

Jeff Duncan, campaign organiser of the Save the Scottish Regiments organisation, said: "What is needed is decent, affordable housing for soldiers and their families in Scotland and better rates of basic pay. It is patronising in the extreme to suggest that everything to do with this ill-fated merger of historic regiments will be beneficial to the rank-and-file. Potential recruits can do the maths for themselves."

A veteran of Fallingbostel, home to the Black Watch for a number of years while training as armoured infantry, added: "Fallie is a good posting for young, single lads overseas for the first time. It's not so hot for married men. Wives who don't speak German have trouble getting work."

It has also been confirmed Britain will be sending 5000 soldiers to Afghanistan this year despite growing uncertainty over the commitment of Dutch troops to the mission.

General Sir Mike Jackson, chief of the general staff, told a private group of influential Scottish business and political leaders in Edinburgh, the UK would be sending a brigade to Helmand province, the Taliban insurgent heartland, as soon as the cabinet gives the go-ahead.

He also predicted that, depending on continued improvements in the security situation, the Army could halve its 8000-strong garrison in Iraq "in a year's time" to ease overstretch and manpower problems elsewhere.

Globe-trotting

The Army's "family-friendly" Royal Regiment of Scotland will involve the five surviving battalions being scattered in quarters from Edinburgh to the North German Plain.

The Edinburgh-based battalions may be the luckiest, with barracks at Dreghorn in the shadow of the Pentland Hills, and Glencorse, near Penicuik, which is undergoing a Ł38m facelift.

The Argylls, in Canterbury, will face the usual reaction of pub battle-weary civilians to new military arrivals in an old garrison town. The fresh role as "air cavalry" operating from helicopters is likely to keep them in demand for rapid intervention operations.

The Highlanders will find Fallingbostel in Germany, home to generations of British squaddies since the end of the second world war, an initial novelty. Few will speak the language and most will learn only the essentials for beer, bratwurst sausage suppers and a few clumsy chat-up lines. Others will marry locally and integrate. It can be a lonely town for single soldiers.

The Black Watch, in Palace barracks on the edge of Belfast, have access to first-class pubs and restaurants in neighbouring Hollywood – but it is a traditional republican stronghold. In two years' time, they will be assigned a permanent home. Fort George near Inverness seems likely, though not certain. If so, they had better hope the locals have short memories. The regiment was raised to keep the Highland clans in check.

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