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The last thing Jeff Duncan wasplanning on doing lastweekwasreopening his gruellingcampaign to save Scotland’sregiments. The Dundonian busi-

nessman and former RAF serviceman hadfought for two-and-a-half years to stopLabour cuts which resulted in the amalga-mation of Scotland’s famous regimentsunder the single Royal Regiment of Scot-land in 2005. The campaign was backed bymany senior Conservatives, including Bar-oness Thatcher andMichael Howard.Withthe Tories in power, the campaigners feltthey could breathe a sigh of relief. But theyhad not counted on the enemywithin.On Tuesday, news of a speech given by

PhilipHammond, the defence secretary, inBad Fallingbostel, where hewas discussingplans to bring home 17,000 servicepersonnel stationed in Germany, started totrickle back to Britain.“As a businessman, I’m interested in

productivity,” Hammond told officers at aGerman military academy. In an era ofrecession, the armed forces had to do theirjob “in the most resource-efficient waypossible”, he said. He talked aboutachieving outputs with lower inputs.“Clearly, the army can’t get smaller by

17% without losing some units,” said theminister. “I can’t say to you that there willbe no loss of battalions in the infantry aswe downsize the army. We are looking atthe options.” By Wednesday, the names ofthe Black Watch, the Argyll and Suther-landHighlanders, theRoyalHighlandFusi-liers and the Scots Guards were confirmedas candidates for cuts and mergers.Duncan’s inbox started filling up withemails fromold soldiers and thosewhohadbacked the 2004 campaign. “They simplysaid, “Where andwhen?’ ” said Duncan.Itwas enough to rekindle the campaign.

The Save the Scottish Regiments websitewas reinstated and a Facebook pageattracted 1,500 followers in twodays. Itwasbattle stations. But one man’s war isanother man’s opportunity. On Thursday,Alex Salmond signed up to the campaign.The first minister might seem an

unlikely recruit. The SNP is not renownedfor its military support. Salmond, whoopposed the war in Iraq, has previouslysaid an independent Scotland would haveone naval base, one army base and onemobile armed brigade. The nationalistshave long been opposed to Trident, thenuclear defence, based on the Clyde, but itwas at the heart of the 2005 campaign andthere appears to have been a softening inits anti-NATO position in recentmonths.But is Salmond’s support for the

regiments anything more than oppor-tunism or can he manoeuvre himself intoposition as their saviour? By the end of lastweek, the political parties had taken upbattle stations and the SNP had advancedon to traditional unionist ground.

THE Ministry of Defence insists no deci-sionhas yet been takenon the Scottish regi-ments which are under consideration aspart of the MoD’s strategic defence andsecurity review. “The review is ongoing atthe moment and no decisions have yetbeen taken,” said a spokesman.But rumours abound that the names of

the Black Watch, the Argyll and Suther-land Highlanders and the Royal Highland

Fusiliers will be lost by 2014. Instead theywill be knownas 3 Scots, 5 Scots and2 Scots.There are concerns that the Scots Guards,which is weakest in terms of recruitment,could be axed altogether.At first minister’s questions last week,

Salmond said the Westminster coalitionunderestimated the tradition and senti-ment over the Black Watch — set up afterthe Jacobite uprising of 1715 — and theArgyll and Sutherland Highlanders. “Interms of the arrogance that’s beingdeployed to elements of Scottish regi-mental tradition, there’s the arrogance notjust towards this government, but to thisparliament,” Salmond said.The row is deeply embarrassing for the

Scottish Conservatives. Their leader, RuthDavidson, was a signaller in the TerritorialArmy for three years from 2003, when theSave the Scottish Regiment campaign wasat its height. A back injury during trainingat Sandhurst forced her to quit. The Perth-shire constituency — home to the BlackWatch— is a key territory for the Tories.“There is much rumour and speculation

but people should be aware that no deci-

sions have yet been taken,” Davidson said.“However, this speculation has raised clearconcernsover the future of ourhistoric regi-ments and I have spoken directly to theprime minister to discuss the issues con-cerned and to put forward a strong defenceof Scotland’s position. The prime ministerunderstands the issues.”By late last week, Hammond seemed to

be regretting his slash and burn approach.“I read in Scottish newspapers that I’mgoing to disband all the regimental system,and create a continental style army,”Ham-mond told The Sunday Times. “None ofthat is remotely true.“Wehugelyvalue the regimental system,

it’s hugely important to theway theBritisharmyworks, and nobody as far as I know issuggesting dismantling it. Regiments arean important part of the structure and wewill preserve them,butwewill have to takesome battalions out of regiments. Some ofthe multi-battalion regiments will have tolose a battalion in order that we can takethis number of troops out of the army.”But as a multi-battalion regiment, the

Royal Regiment of Scotland remains inthe line of fire. Formed in 2005 from sevenbattalions — five regular and two territo-rial, including a battalion formed byuniting theRoyal Scots and the King'sOwn

Scottish Borderers — it is now Scotland’ssole line infantry regiment. As a sop, thebattalions were allowed to keep their regi-mental pipes anddrumsand traditions.Dis-tinctive “hackles” — feather plumes — areworn by the different battalions in a bid tomaintain their separate identities. Thehackle for the BlackWatch is red.Major Ronnie Proctor, of the Black

Watch Association, believes his old regi-ment is facing death by a thousand cuts.“As each successive defence review hascome out, they’ve just axed battalion afterbattalion,” he said. “The empathy in Scot-land between the local population and theregiments is very strong. There is a stronggroundswell of public opinion againstlosing the name of the BlackWatch.”He added: “If we lose the name, we lose

everything. A merger would be a competedilution of the whole thing. Once onename goes, they will all go.”Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son

Gordon died in Iraq in 2004 while servingwith the 1st BattalionRoyalHighland Fusi-liers, agrees that regimental ties areextremely important for the families whohave lost sons and daughters in action.“They should leave the regiments

alone,” said Gentle, who has become politi-cally active sinceher son’s death. “Itmeansa lot to the families that the regimentskeep the name that they had when theylost a loved one. Gordon was in the RHF.Maybe in years to come, some relative willhear that hewas in the RHF but they’ll say,‘What’s the RHF?’ Gordon was proud towear the RHF uniform. My two brothersare RHF as well. It’s one big family. Theyshouldn’t go changing anything now.”Maintaining a regimental identity is

important to serving soldiers, too. Procterrecently got a letter from a young BlackWatch soldier in Afghanistan. “The twoBlack Watch soldiers are slowly deterio-rating in the BlackWatch,” the letter read.“I believe it is down to the RRS [Royal Regi-ment of Scotland]. I am proud to be part ofit but it is killing the regiment’s traditionby sending us lots of new recruits fromout-side of the heartland of the Black Watch. Ican’t wait to get back to Bonnie Scotland.”Attempts last week by Labour to exploit

the disillusionmentwith the coalition gov-ernment’s handling of the regiments havebeen met with derision. Jim Murphy, theshadow defence secretary and a Scot, said:“Defence is about more than inputs, out-puts and spreadsheets. It is also aboutpeople, tradition and pride. Philip Ham-mond seems either oblivious or uncaringabout thehistoric ties thatmany communi-ties have to army units and vice versa.”“Beware Labour party crocodile tears,”

reads a poster on the Save the ScottishRegi-ments Facebook page. “Labour shafted theregiments in 2005.”“I think Alex Salmond is the only politi-

cian who doesn’t come out of this badly,”said Duncan. “People say, ‘The army is notsafe with the SNP.’ Well, it’s not safe withthe Conservatives, Labour and the LiberalDemocrats. I’m not coming at this as anationalist, but I’ll dancewith thedevil if itmeans saving the Scottish regiments.”Thisweekend the SNPhas vowed to keep

the existing unit names in an independentScotland and if the Tories scrap them firsttheywould reinstate themas part of a Scot-tish Defence Force. In themeantime, cam-paigners are looking at ways to make animpact. Everything from protesting withbanners along the route of the Olympictorch to flooding the Scottish Tory confer-encewith protesters is being considered.But not everyone believes a slimmed-

down army is a bad thing. General Sir MikeJackson, the former head of the army whowas charged with the restructuring which

resulted in the formation of the RoyalRegiment of Scotland, wrote in hisautobiography that the “Scots were tryingto maintain a disproportionate number ofbattalions” for their population. “The accu-sation that we had destroyed theregimental system was nonsense,” wroteJackson. “The regimental system haschanged again and again over time. What

matters is that [it] adapts to changing cir-cumstances.”It is in this light that Hammond hopes

the reviewwill be seen. “I know people feelvery strongly about these issues and Iunderstand why,” he said. “The key thingis protecting the regimental structure. Insome cases, cap badges of old traditionalregiments that have long since gone have

been attached to battalion names, and Iunderstand that there will be concernsabout protecting those cap badge names ifwehave to take out battalions.Wewill lookto do everything we can to protect them.”The campaigners are on the march, the

coalition is under fire, and leading the callto arms is the most unlikely of generals —Alex Salmond.

BATTLE STATIONS

Salmond has puthimself forward asa champion of the

Black Watch

‘‘IF WE LOSE THE NAMEOF THE REGIMENT,WE LOSE EVERYTHING.ONCE ONE NAME GOES,THEY WILL ALL GO

Scottish soldiers believe the SNP may betheir best hope of keeping the regimentalnames alive. Gillian Bowditch reports