MASH units move to Imphal Barracks

As was exclusively predicted in the Evening Press earlier this month, the headquarters of the TA Army Medical Service (AMS) will move to Imphal Barracks from Cheshire next February, bringing with it 16 military and 10 civilian jobs and a number of TA appointments.

At the same time, TA medics are in future to receive their training at Strensall, where they will learn how to adapt their hospital skills to army field hospital conditions. "They'll be the British Army equivalent of MASH," said a York army spokesman.

In a letter to York MP Hugh Bayley, Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson said: "In combination, this will make York and Strensall the central focus for the AMS, which is to expand by some 2,000 posts overall, and in particular for the 1,300 AMS specialists who are recruited nationwide but will receive their training centrally."

Elsewhere in York and North Yorkshire, part-time soldiers were today assessing good and bad news about the future of the TA.

In York, Lumley Barracks in Burton Stone Lane, home to A Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment, is to shut. York City Football Club has already expressed keen interest in buying the site to expand its adjacent Bootham Crescent ground.

Two other key TA centres in Fulford Road, at the Yeomanry Barracks and Worsley Barracks, have been saved from the axe, delighting Mr Bayley who campaigned for York to lose no more than one out of its three main TA centres.

Scarborough's centre has also been reprieved, but Harrogate's is to shut and a TA centre in Northallerton will in future be used for cadets only. A TA detachment at RAF Leeming will also shut.

The TA in Yorkshire and Humberside has been slashed by 26 per cent, with North Yorkshire bearing the brunt of the cuts. This is the third largest regional TA reduction in Britain, where numbers will fall from 54,000 to 41,200, saving the MoD £70 million a year. There will be opportunities for soldiers based at centres marked for closure to transfer to the remaining centres.

Mr Bayley defended the Government's plans, saying: "All change is controversial but we will end up with a better trained, better equipped TA used more often on active service."

But John Greenway, Tory MP for Ryedale, launched a blistering attack on his York counterpart, saying: "The TA in North Yorkshire is going to be decimated and all Hugh Bayley can do is stand up and make ingratiating remarks about bringing the medical centre. Apart from the TA centres left in York, only Scarborough has been reprieved. It is appalling for the county."

Vale of York Tory MP Anne McIntosh expressed regret at the "severe hit to TA staff and bases," saying rural areas had been "devastated" by the cuts.

*Initial reports yesterday suggested that two of York's main TA barracks might shut. It later emerged that the MoD had classified a TA garage and storage centre in Hungate as a TA centre, and that it was this which would shut as well as Lumley Barracks.

Changing role of TA soldiers

Part-time soldiers across North Yorkshire were today assessing the impact of Government cuts in the Territorial Army. But what is the TA - and why is it being cut? Andrew Hitchon reports...The TA was formed in 1908 as part of reforms brought in by War Minister Lord Haldane, although part-time forces have been used by Britain for much longer.

A volunteer army raised 371,000 men for national defence during the Napoleonic wars.

The Haldane reforms amalgamated the Yeomanry and Volunteers into the Territorial Force, with two cavalry and 14 infantry divisions.

The TA first went into battle in the First World War, and it was mobilised again when the Second World War broke out.

But the part-time army took on a new role in the post-war years, becoming an important part of Britain's defence in the event of an invasion by Warsaw Pact countries.

The Government now argues that since the end of the Cold War, the nature of the threat to Britain has fundamentally changed, thus justifying a massive shake-up of the organisation.

The size of the Territorial Army will be cut to 41,000, which the Government says is a reduction of 12,000 though the Conservatives claim the figure is nearer 18,000.

But the Government maintains the changes will "move the TA from a structure designed for 'Cold War' defence into a strategic role where it will be a genuine integral part of the Army's capability".

This means TA units could be increasingly used in trouble spots abroad, and for the first time its soldiers will be trained on "battle-winning equipment" like Challenger 2 tanks, AS90 self-propelled guns, and Multiple Rocket Launch Systems.

Despite the creation of three new North East infantry battalions, of which No 1 will be based on Yorkshire and Humberside, Defence Minister George Robertson has pledged that regimental cap badges will be retained. An Army spokesman in York has said more traditional names may be found for the units based in the city in future.

The part-timers may have suffered from something of a Dad's Army image, but there's no doubt about their commitment. Much of their spare time is devoted to the TA. They spend six entire weekends each year on exercises, getting home just in time to return to their full-time jobs on the Monday morning. And there's also an annual two-week exercise.

Wives, husbands and children must get used to being without their soldier partner or parent for significant periods, and that can take its toll on family life.

Now the Government believes the new, slim-line version of the TA will continue to play a key role in the defence of the realm, well into the 21st century.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.