AS a former NCO in the Brigade of Guards and instructor at the training battalion at Pirbright, the complaint by three Asian recruits that they suffered racial abuse there (LET, May 24) made me laugh.

These three boys served just a few days then legged it back home and took legal advice to sue the Army.

During my service in the 1940s, there were 100,000 serving in the Guards' Brigade - paras, infantry and tanks - many of them veterans of Dunkirk, Tobruk, Sicily, Salerno, Casino and Normandy.

All of these men endured the so-called abuse and insults which are the bedrock of all disciplined military training all over the world.

This method has been tried and tested for years and determined the recruits' mettle. Political correctness has no place in any military training.

Maybe these three lads will be better off working in a shop than as soldiers.

MAURICE McHUGH, Marlow Crescent, Great Harwood.

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