Royal Regiment of Scotland, Scottish Division, Army

IAN BRUCE,
Defence Correspondent
Glasgow Herald
February 14 2006

BRITAIN has used more than 5200 specialist tank and artillery crewmen as emergency light infantry to relieve overstretched footsoldiers in Iraq, the Herald can reveal.

An average of 1056 expensively-trained troopers from armoured and gunner regiments have been deployed on foot every six months since July, 2003, while the Ministry of Defence pressed ahead with plans to axe four infantry battalions to save money.

Figures confirmed by Adam Ingram, armed forces minister, show that the equivalent of two battalions of makeshift footsoldiers are committed every time a new brigade is sent to Iraq.

Scotland's only tank regiment, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, is on duty as infantry with a battlegroup patrolling south of Basra.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Crawford, a former tank commander and military analyst, said: "The bottom line is, that we've run out of deployable infantry.

"Every soldier goes through basic training in weapons handling and tactics, but gunners and tankers then spend the rest of their careers learning the technicalities of their own arms of service."

He added: "Tank crews have to retrain for between four and six months before they can be used as riflemen. When the tour of duty is over, they have to spend a further four or five getting back up to speed on their armoured skills. If you include leave, each regiment is off the plot for the best part of a year.

Major Mike Hamilton, a former Scottish infantry company commander, added: "The whole argument comes down to lack of resources.

"The decision to axe four infantry battalions . . . has come home to roost with simultaneous deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. It can't be done without cannibalising the rest of the Army."

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