Dumbing down is not the way for our Army I WOULD like to congratulate Bob Waite on his excellent letter (Can Army claim to be the best?, January 11).

The Army’s dumbing down of the advertising is not the right way to attract more recruits of the right calibre.

The very opposite is what is needed.

Okay, the Army is having difficulty in obtaining recruits but you do not lower the standards that have been required for hundreds of years just to get them.

The British Army needs dedicated intelligent personnel that can fight and the best way to attract them is to pay them a wage that reflects the very dangerous and difficult job they do.

Bob Waite quite rightly refers to the army of lawyers that now act on behalf of persons that may have been injured or regrettably killed in action against the British Army. The soldiers are doing their duty and in the heat of battle things can go wrong but the powers that be do not stand up for our soldiers.

They let lawyers run roughshod over them.

He also refers to the Gurkha regiments, men who have given their lives for this country for centuries but were treated despicably when they requested help for their impoverished families.

Thanks Bob Waite for your letter.

Ray Theakston, Haxby, York