IAN BRUCE,
Defence Correspondent
Glasgow Herald
October 31 2005
THE controversial Royal Regiment of Scotland is to start recruiting north of the border from tomorrow – five months before the unit officially comes into existence.
The Ministry of Defence has allocated a multi-million pound advertising budget and a 147-strong recruitment team to try to promote the new formation and reverse the growing crisis in enlistment.
Figures leaked to The Herald and published on Saturday showed that a gloomy internal Army manpower forecast predicts a rise of only nine newly qualified soldiers for Scotland's six infantry regiments by next March, leaving the existing Scottish Division still 399 troops short of full strength.
There are also 225 Fijian and other Commonwealth volunteers serving in Scottish units to help plug gaps in their ranks.
Jeff Duncan, campaign manager for the Save The Scottish Regiments organisation, yesterday accused the MoD of recruiting "£1m super-soldiers" if a claimed £9m marketing budget fails to attract additional manpower.
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The MoD says it is impossible to break down its recruitment budget for Scotland, despite high-profile television, newspaper and poster campaigns urging young Scots to "Join the Scottish infantry".
Mr Duncan said: "If the Army is spending something in the region of £9m – a figure we have been told by insiders – promoting the new regiment and their own figures show an increase of just nine recruits, then someone should be asking if the taxpayer is getting value for money for £1m-a-time super-soldiers.
"The news that the new recruitment teams will be urging young men to join the RRS rather than their local regiment also flies in the face of promises made by Labour politicians before the general election.
"Will recruits from Perth or Duns have the choice of joining the Black Watch or the King's Own Scottish Borderers, or will they be assigned where the shortages are worst?"
The MoD insists that recruits will still be able to join the local unit of their choice, but admits that there are no cast-iron guarantees.
The six existing regiments in Scotland are to be effectively disbanded and then reformed as individual battalions of the new RRS.
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