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Government targets Territorials in new round of army cuts
GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
CHIEF NEWS CORRESPONDENT
The Scotsman
February 18 2006
THE government is set to announce another round of drastic cuts to Britain's over-stretched infantry as part of a radical shake-up of the Territorial Army, The Scotsman has learned.
At least one territorial infantry regiment is to be axed and three centres will be closed as part of the changes to be announced by John Reid, the Defence Secretary, within the next two weeks.
Historic regimental names will disappear as the TA units are amalgamated into the new super-regiments that the government has deemed essential to the overall restructuring of the British Army.
In Scotland, that will mean that the Lowland and Highland regiments become the 6th and 7th battalions respectively of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The plans, which will effectively see the part-time force merge into the regular army, is set to be every bit as controversial as the recent loss of four regular infantry battalions and the amalgamation of the Scottish regiments.
Many soldiers who signed up to serve as part-time infantry will find that their role has been abolished. Instead, the MoD intends to try to persuade them to take on new tasks to fill the gaping holes in its ranks of specialists left by previous defence cuts.
The timing could hardly be worse, with the infantry already pared down to the minimum required for operations and British troops committed indefinitely to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Reid recently revealed that gaps between deployments for regular infantry units had shrunk to 21 months from the recommended 24 months.
Mr Reid is expected to announce the closure of a number of TA centres, leaving volunteers facing long journeys to training sessions if they want to remain in uniform. Many are expected to quit.
Yesterday Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said he could not understand how the government thought it could cut budgets while increasing the demands on the army.
"At a time when the services are already overstretched, to be reducing the infantry does seem to be counter-productive," he said. "The government keeps increasing the number of commitments but there has been an overall reduction in the armed forces and reductions in the proportion of GDP spent on them. How the government can consider reductions in size seems baffling, to say the least."
Jeff Duncan, spokesman for the Save the Scottish Regiments campaign, accused the government of undermining the morale, history and recruitment of the TA. "Now it is the turn of the TA to suffer the same disgraceful and humiliating treatment that has been dished out to the Scottish regiments," he said.
The army is acutely conscious that the moves will be controversial. A spokesman for HQ Land Command, which is tasked with delivering and sustaining the army's operational capability, said:
"There will be an overall change in infantry numbers. They may attract some criticism, but you have to leave it to the army. We have looked at it long and hard. There has been an 18-month consultation exercise finding the best way forward."
The infantry is already stretched to the limits and has relied heavily on the TA to make up the numbers in Iraq, with about 11,500 soldiers deployed since the start of the war in 2003.
Officers and senior NCOs say that they have integrated well and have done much to rid themselves of the "weekend warriors" tag.
But the additional demands on its members have taken their toll on retention figures and about 13,500 have resigned in the same period.
Some have expressed concern about the length of deployments - up to nine months in some cases once training is included - and there have been problems with unsympathetic employers who have refused to keep jobs open for those who volunteer for duty.
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