The announcement that the Ministry of Defence is freezing recruitment and reducing training and other investment in the Territorial Army for a year to save £5m beggars belief (June 22).
The regular army is at its lowest manpower level in history and it is widely accepted that it is grossly overstretched. In this situation the role of the TA becomes even more important in the defence of our nation at a time of increasing instability globally.
The TA also has an important role in the life of communities and provides training in personal development and other skills of value to employers and society.
In 1955 the strength of the TA was more than 300,000, and now it is just more than 30,000, and yet our political leaders are going to reduce recruitment and training to save such a paltry amount. This will adversely impact our armed forces' capability and risks disillusion in our part-time soldiers who have been striving to achieve operational effectiveness with minimal resources.
So we put the country at risk to save £5m. Responsibility for the chronic underfunding and this latest astonishing cut can only be laid at the feet of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hopefully his parsimonious approach may change when he becomes Prime Minister and then he will explain to us, and his local TA units, how he intends to ensure the defence of the nation. Dr Ewan B Macdonald OBE, (Honorary Colonel, Scottish 225 Divisional General Support Medical Regiment), 45 Gallowhill Road, Lenzie.
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