sight line,) is much hated by the troops to whom it is issued. A rumour circulating Warwick Camp holds that the decision to purchase it, rather than any of the large assortment of other 5.56mm rifles the Bermuda Regiment had inspected, was taken after Bill Ruger had offered to engrave the Bermuda Regiment badge into each rifle. One hopes that is not true, though it is certainly the case that each rifle does indeed carry a lovely reproductiuon of the unit's badge. A more likely reason for the choice was the very low cost of the Ruger rifle, by comparison to its competitors-about half the price of an Armalite, or less.
Despite the Bermuda Regiment's reliance solely on the Colonial Government for funding and raison-d'-etre, and although it does not actually appear on the British Army Lists (except as an allied-regiment to the Royal Anglian Regiment,) it is technically a British military unit, with its line-of-command going straight to London, via the offices of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief. For day-to-day purposes, though, His Excellency delegates control of the unit to a minister of the Colonial Parliament.
Although it continues to be organized and trained as a typical TA infantry unit, and bears a relationship to the regular Royal Anglians equivalent to that of its TA battalions, the Bermuda Regiment differs in one crucial aspect-conscription. This was actually introduced to its predecessors during the 'fifties (prior to that, conscription had only been used for the duration of the Second World War). With the amalgamation of 1965, young males, Black and White, were selected by a lottery system for three years involuntary service in the unit. Their service requirement is actually identical to that of a UK TA soldier, however: A single drill night each week, a weekend camp each month, and a two week camp each year. A certain attendance level, as well as the completion of certain tests ( riflery, Battle Field Fitness, et cet.,) are required each year in order to receive bounty ( the year's pay, less the pay for the two week camp, payed at the time). Saddly, the pay is so insignificant-particularly given the high cost of living on the island-that it is little motivation for attendance and recourse must frequently be made to the units large, and unusually active, body of Regimental Police.
This was one of the features that raised some consternation in London's House of Commons after a 2000 article on the Bermuda Regiment appeared in 'Soldier' magazine entitled "Conscription in the British Army". The violation of equal rights under European Union requirements was also a point of debate as conscription is only directed towards men. The consensus in London, and increasingly in Bermuda, is that conscription is fundamentally unethical, as well as impractical. The Regular Army in the UK abolished it, ironically, in 1965 and its days may be numbered here.
Certainly, conscripton has lain at the heart of all the problems the Bermuda regiment has encountered in discipline and efficiency since its amalgamation. Due to serious discipline problems encountered during an overseas camp in the West Indies in the early 'seventies, the Bermuda Government had contracted for a review from Maj. General G.C.A. Gilbert, MC-perhaps the highest ranking Bermudian, ever. He had joined the Lincolns during the Second World War, being in command of a Company at the crossing of the Rhine. After the war, despite his rank ( a Major,) he switched to the Parachute Regiment. A veteran of Palestine, in 1948, the Malayan Emergency, and the EOKA uprising in Cyprus, he is a former commander of the School of Infantry, and retired as Commandant of the Joint Warfare Centre in 1974.
The central recommendation made by Maj. Gen. Gilbert was to increase the Regiment's size from around 400 men, to a full battalion of approximately 750. This requirement was immediately high-lighted by the civil unrest of 1977 which stretched the Bermuda Regiment to its limit. It proved to have only enough men to stand guard on the various facilities it was required to defend, but inadequate numbers to allow sub-units to be rotated off duty for rest. As a result regular troops had to be flown in from the UK, at the Bermuda government's cost. Greatly embarrassed by the whole affair, the Colonial Parliament approved most of the recommendations and the Regiment was increased to include three rifle companies (originally A, B and C,) and one Support Company ( in fact, the largest).
Originally, the years intake of new conscripts would go into the 'Training Company', a role that was rotated annually amongst the Rifle Companies. In time, a permanent Training Company was appointed, C Company disappearing from the orbat.
At the end of the 'eighties, approximately 200 new recruits were taken on each January. Their initial experience was their annual requirement for a two week camp at which they were taught the rudiments of soldiering. The remainder of the year would be divided between infantry and Internal Security training. The following year they would be handed off to whichever of the two Rifle Companies was losing its conscripts at the end of their three years service.
The two-week camps of the two rifle-companies have consisted of subsequent or concurrent deployments to the US Marine's Camp Lejeune, with its extensive ranges, and the wilds of Jamaica's Blue Mountains on alternate Marches ( although, largelly due toincreased usage of Lejeune, the North Carolina trip will evidently be re-directed henceforth to Canada). For the first time, elements of the Bermuda Regiment, together with the East England, and Gibraltar Regiments trained with the National Guard in Florida in 2003. Individuals had joined the Gibraltars in Morocco in 2002.
At the end of the initial recruit camp, volunteers are sought for a JNCO's cadre run each Spring. Although many conscripts are willing to put in the extra effort that comes with promotion, relatively few are willing to re-engage at the end of their requisite three years, leading to a high turn-over rate. Consequently, volunteers are trained seperately to assume the rank of Lance Corporal, organized as a Platoon of Training Company. This Cadre culminates in June with a seperate two week overseas camp held at Camp Lejeune. Those who pass receive their first stripe before the Summer holiday.
The Bermuda Regiment also suffers from a permanent shortage of commissioned officers. This is accounted for only in part by the rate at which they tender their resignations. A larger problem has been the way in which the Royal Military College at Sandhurst structures its year. Much of the year is spent dedicated entirely to its regular students, enrolled as in a civilian university. As the clearing house for Queen's commissions, however, all candidates must attend there, if only for a brief camp to confirm their qualifications.
The Summers at Sandhurst are slated for Cadets from civilian universities, which means that candidates from the TA must come over the winter break. This has proved a particular hardship for candidates from the Bermuda Regiment. Although rarely a pleasant place to spend the winter, Bermuda does not typically provide its soldiery with the opportunity to do such things as dig trenches in frozen ground! The resultant high failure rate of its candidates for commission has certainly been a cause of some desperatrion to the Regiment.
At its amalgamation this was actually less of a problem. Smaller at the time, its requirement for commissioned officers was less, and it was still well served by many veterans who had gained commissions in Regular Army regiments serving at the sharper end of the war.
The first CO was Lt. Col. Brownlow Tucker. He had joined the ranks of the BVRC before the war, going to the Linclons with a commission as part of the first draft sent in 1940. At the war's end, he was a Major, commanding a company of 10 Lincolns in the Orient, and having spent some time fighting behind enemy lines as a 'Chindit'.
Returning to Bermuda on War's end, he became the CO of the BMA. He was still in this position at the amalgamation, taking command of the new unit. The second CO was Lt. Col. J.A. Marsh, who had entered the SAS as a sub-altern in 1941. He left that unit at war's end, returned to the DCLI with which he was posted to Bermuda in the 'fifties. Staying on here on retiring from the Regular Army, he entered the Terretorial forces, and also became, by the 'eighties, the Deputy Director of the Colony's Department of Tourism.
The first second-in-command was Maj. D.H. "Bob" Burns, MC. Born in Cheshire, he had joined the Liverpool Scottish TA unit at war's outbreak in 1939, when he was 17. Going to the Cameron Highlanders with a drafte the following year, he fought in Egypt before he was gazetted 1Lieutenant and posted to Bermuda in 1941. Marrying into an island family, he was then moved on to serve in the Mediterranean and Austria before war's end. Returning to the island with a Captain's commission, he entered the BMA, and from there moved into the Bermuda Regiment, which he left in 1974.
The Bermuda Regiment still has the occassional benefit of officers and NCO's, leaving Regular Army or Royal Marine units, returning to the colony and wishing to keep their hand in, but the days when it could rely on such men have long passed.
The Rgimental Headquarters contains several full-time, but short-term, positions. The Regiment has actually managed to promote all of its CO's from within its own strength, but most of its RSM's have been seconded from Regular Army regiments. The closest relationship is with the Royal Anglian Regiment, into which the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment had been amalgamated. In 1997, this Regular unit was supplying the Bermuda regiment with its Second-in-Command, its Adjutant and its Staff Officer.
It has also traditionally supplied it with the only full-time members of its Rifle Companies, the Warrant Officer 2s who serve as Permanent Staff Instructors. These gentlemen handle not only the administration of the Companies when no one else is there, they also take particular control of the JNCOs of the companies and are often the superiors a corporal will look to first.
Although it has twice been embodied on Internal Security duties, the Regiment has seen little practical employment, other than providing disaster relief after hurricanes. Numbers of its personnel, notably officers, as they are able, have served on attachment with the Royal Anglians from six months to a few years duration. In an attempt to give them some practical experience, the body of its NCOs and WOs, and officers were briefly attached to a battalion of the RAR on 'peacekeeping' duty in Belize in the 'eighties.
Since a rule change re-delegating the task to regimental depots, the Regiment has sent JNCOs to the RAR depot for skill-at-arms courses since the early 'nineties. All sergeants are required to attend the School of Infantry's 'Platoon Sergeants' Course'.
The Regiment is entering a time of flux, now, having lost a company due to the decreasing number of 18 year olds. Conscription may be phased out, and its role may be revised to a more maritime one.