“ PROUDEST OF PROFESSIONS ”

Evening Star, Issue 23378, 22 September 1939, Page 11

“ PROUDEST OF PROFESSIONS ”

BRITISH ARMY LIFE The British soldier—that indefatigable, imperturbable servant of the State whose “ humanity, common sense, and humour have made him his country’* most successful ambassador ” —is again in France to fight for the cause of civilisation. Since ho was last there some 20 odd years ago the machine of which he is a part has undergone radical changes in many directions. The recruit to Britain’s army to-day mins an organisation that repays hard work, Skill, and efficiency with a vocation that has been ca'lcd the proudest of professions. He has the choice of a dozen spheres of duty; whatever his abilities the Army can find use for them. He lives in centrally-heated barracks and sleeps in a four-bed cubicle; eats four varied and scientifically-balanced meals a day, cooked in a modern kitchen; he can rest in comfortable sitting rooms; play any spurt, within reason, that he likes; spend winter evenings in the club that he calls the regimental institute. He has a month’s holiday each year on full pay (with an allowance to cover the temporary loss of rations); his evenings off duty may bo spent put of barracks—and off duty he may wear plain clothes and stay out as long as he likes. Starting as a private, with pay of two shillings a day, food, clothing, and living accommodation found, and even an allowance to cover the cost of his haircuts and laundry, the new soldier's limit of achievement depends entirely on his own efforts. The field in which he may qualify for advancement is filled with opportunity. SERVICE TO nit: E .MB I HE. And it is a field that moves, as the recruit’s length of service increases, from the depot at which he enlists—often in his own town —to practically any spot marked red on the map of the world; the protection of the Empire is the .main • task of the British Army in peace time, and Private Thomas Atkins sees as much of it as anv man Wherever he may go, whatever his regiment, he helps to maintain a record of 'service as long and as proud as any in the world. Very early in his career he learns that the history and traditions of his particular regiment are those of the Army, and some of those histories and traditionshave been over two and a-half centuries in the making. For though the story of British military enterprise and achievement begins long before the seventeenth century, it was with the Restoration of Charles 11. in 1660 that the Army as it is to-day came into being—a blend of the two forces that, respectively, supported the Royalist and Parliamentarian causes in the Civil War. STANDARDS SET BY CROMWELL. The high standards of discipline and whi<y?, VT',4 a li tfee Army is

renowned are a-umque memorial to the Roundheads’ great commander. Oliver Cromwell He swept away the old haphazard methods of enlistment and equipment and the untrained, undisciplined troops of levies that local landowners and squires led. In their place he demanded men of good character, a high standard of piety and morals—he made even swearing a punishable offence; he trained them methodically, paid them regularly, enforced rigid discipline. When Cromwell's sturdy Roundheads were merged with the gallant loyalists of the Cavalier troops (two regiments of to-day are the descendants of Cromwell’s New Model Parliamentary Army, three trace their ancestry back to King Charles’s Royalists) the British Army became the Ring’s Army, the sovereign being its head. Then, time brought it under the control of Parliament, so that, now it is the loyal servant of both King and People. The British soldier, while honouring the old. keeps pace with—establishes, even—the new. Modern methods of military technique are matched by modern conditions of service. His contract with the State is an agreement entered into with mutual regard and understanding. In the words of the British Secretary of State for War, Mr Hore-Belisha:—

“ Health, strength, comradeship—these the soldier generally obtains; but he gives also. He offers his service and his courage for the safety of the State. He belongs to the 1 proudest of professions.’ and his country holds him in high esteem.’’