REGARDING your report on the soldier who committed suicide after being bullied at Tidworth Barracks in 1956, I was stationed there with a group who were all corporals, due to us successfully passing the Army's deputy clerks of works course.

As a mature entrant, aged 21, for the then compulsory National Service, I was one of six of this group farmed out to Tidworth.

We had a dormitory to ourselves and kept very much to ourselves. We worked away from the camp during the day and kept a low profile.

Most soldiers at Tidworth were in the Tank Corps and, as many were being demobbed, they often got into a wild state.

Nights were often horrendous with 'demob-happy' troops roaming the barracks in riotous mood. We locked our door the first night, but in response to a thumping on it, one of us made the mistake of shouting: "Go away - we are all corporals."

This was like a red rag to a bull. The door was broken open with a bench used as a battering ram.

We were all tipped out of bed. But since we suffered this without any further protest we were then left alone, having been shown who was boss. We considered filing charges, but were told not to bother, since the papers would 'disappear' from the office and this was ignored by the officers because it was easier to let these people out of the Army.

Things do not change, do they? And the Army, like many institutions, is happy to turn a blind eye to outlandish behaviour.

Unfortunately, this inherited barbaric nature, which forged the British Empire, still lurks in many of our young men. It is exhibited in the tribal rivalry of football crowds and, unfortunately, often surfaces as out-and-out violence.

It is in the blood of many of our countrymen and will take many more generations to remove. As a civilised society, we should not tolerate it and, as in crack units such as the SAS, it must he contained or channelled to contain other violent characters.

Zero tolerance is the only answer to bullies and thugs in a civilised society.

L WILLAN, Chatburn Close, Great Harwood.

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