AS an old soldier, and the father of a young one, I have watched the news about the restructuring of the infantry with sadness. But it was the article by Ian Drury (Regiments must 'bite the bullet', November 27) which has angered me most.

In the article, Geoff Hoon claims the Single Battalion Regiments are responsible for overstretch and that these cuts are designed to address the situation. How can the disbandment of four infantry battalions do anything but worsen the situation?

Our soldiers are expected to jump from one operational role to another with little time in between. This has a major effect on recruitment and retention so in order to get their strength up they are having to rely heavily on the Territorial Army.

This, in turn, is having a dramatic effect on TA recruitment and retention. With four battalions fewer to call on, we will need to rely on the TA even more.

The Yorkshire regiments accept change is inevitable. They are resigned to merging into a large regiment. But they do not accept that they should lose a battalion in the process.

The defence minister blaming the army for overstretch is yet another example of a government not taking responsibility for its decisions.

These defence cuts are designed with the sole aim of saving money. The MoD has to maintain our armed forces at home and on operations abroad, including expensive commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also fund research and development. All this from an extremely tight budget.

We ask a lot from our armed forces and they have never let us down, but the Government is about to let them down in a big way.

Callum Moir,

Greenshaw Drive, Haxby.

Updated: 10:07 Wednesday, December 01, 2004