Territorial Army units across the UK are facing cuts in their training budget, recruitment freezes and the issue of second-hand uniforms to their part-time soldiers, insiders claimed yesterday.
Despite the fact that TA reservists are expected to produce up to 1200 men and women a year to pad out the regular front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, they have been targeted for budget cuts of up to £3m this year.
Sources say that units which have failed to field a steady stream of volunteers for six-month tours of duty since 2003 are to have their man training days - MTDs - restricted to a basic minimum which will leave newer volunteers short of qualifications.
Reservists are also to be issued with hand-me-down uniforms and webbing recycled from the kit discarded by regular troops to save money.
One TA veteran, who contacted The Herald, said: "The Ministry of Defence claims that part-timers and regulars are One Army'. But the reservists' slogan should be Second-Class Soldiers In Second-Hand Clothes'.
"We have also heard that recruitment is being suspended for up to a year for units deemed to be bringing less than others to the table of enduring operations' in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It will affect administrative outfits like the adjutant-general's corps and the logistics people and some under-represented teeth' battalions.
"The catch is, any freeze on recruitment for units which are having problems with retention anyway will most likely spell their decline and demise in relatively short order.
"Between that and the fact that reservists have just been told they will now have to pay for food while on vital training courses in their own time, it is a recipe for discontent and an exodus of manpower on a grand scale."
The TA has shrunk every year for the past five and has less than 32,000 trained soldiers in the UK. About 10% of these are in Scotland, mirroring the number of Scots in the regular regiments.
More than 13,000 have already served tours of frontline duty. Six have died in action and 16 have been wounded.
An Army source said last night that a number of measures were being introduced or considered to save money, but refused to confirm potential effects on the TA.
Meanwhile, a group of Scottish TA volunteers who have just returned from Iraq spoke yesterday of how they were "drenched in blood" during the rescue of badly-wounded US soldiers from an ambush near the Kuwaiti border.
They were among 100 TA servicemen and women from 51st Highland, 7th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland (7 Scots) who enjoyed emotional reunions with their loved ones back at base in Stirling.
Private Russell Duffy, 24, a postman from Perth, relived the traumatic rescue operation.
He said: "We flew about 150km (93 miles) to the scene of the attack and found a number of seriously wounded and at least one dead. We helped carry the wounded and held up the IV drips and held on the field dressings."
The team commander, Lance Corporal Paul Cunningham, 34, a ceramics factory worker from Clydebank, added: "There was blood everywhere. These poor guys had shrapnel wounds, multiple gunshot wounds, missing legs, missing arms."
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