THE horrors of National Service days have been brought back for thousands of Leigh men with the new TV series "Lads' Army".

Houses throughout the area must have been echoing to relived memories of terror and laughter this week.

The reality documentary takes 30, 18-24 year old volunteers back 50 years to life on camp to see if they can cope with a similar gruelling regime today.

The lads selected have to be admired for stepping forward to undertake such character building bullying.

One poor recruit, who couldn't stop laughing, had the smile wiped off his face by the third of the 10 programmes, and one or two more are finding difficulty hacking the draconian team building tactics.

This week they were ordered to behave like pigs at a trough after having the temerity to ask for more fruit when asked if there were any complaints about their breakfast -- porridge and scrambled egg in the same dish.

They also had to sweep the parade square with nail brushes! It happened.

My dad, one of many ex-squaddies enjoying the programme, recalled his days of square bashing 53 years ago, surprising himself by remembering names and numbers like it was yesterday.

He recalled how in his basic training period he was punished for being last on parade because he couldn't undo a new leather bootlace. He also had a bucket of freezing water poured over him when he was discovered naively taking a bath behind an NCO door.

He became a bombardier and I can imagine gave his lads a tough but fair time.

What the 2.3 million lads who underwent National Service between 1945 and 1963 were put through is no joke, but it certainly didn't do most of them any harm. Many look back and are grateful for it.

It's a pity lads today don't have to go through the regime, girls as well perhaps. Society would be a better and more respectful place for it.