The next round of army cuts will be announced next month as the government reduces reconfigures Britain’s military capability yet again. According to a report at the weekend the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and the Royal Scots Dragood Guards will be two of the casualties heading to the knacker’s yard.
Progress, if that is what it is, waits for no man and sentiment plays no part in these deliberations either. Perhaps that is as it should be. And yet it is possible for sentiment to be discounted too cheaply too. An army is, in part, the weight of its history. Recent governments, of either colour, have paid no heed to that however.
The Argylls, being the most junior of the remaining Scottish infantry regiments (now grouped together as battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland) were always vulnerable and it’s scarcely a surprise that a tank regiment will go as part of these latest cuts.
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