Grantham Barracks and the Territorial Army - 20 April 2007

How often do you drive past Grantham Barracks, and when you do, do you ever give a passing thought to what goes on inside ?

I drive past several times a week. The barracks has in fact a rather special and sentimental significance for me – my father served there briefly during World War II when it was an RAF station. My father-in-law much later had his office there for many years as regimental secretary of the 17th-21st Lancers.

Unlike most passers-by I have been many times inside the gates – in an official role to attend meetings, briefings and formal occasions including passing out parades.

But I think of the barracks increasingly in the House of Commons.

Almost every week the Prime Minister announces the name or names of one or more servicemen or servicewomen who have fallen in Iraq or Afghanistan. Grantham is the national depot for the Royal Logistical Corps Territorials – drivers, mechanics, cooks, signallers and other technicians who come from all over the country to be trained in Grantham and then volunteer for tours of duty with our regular forces, increasingly to serve in conflict zones such as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whenever I hear new names of those killed I wonder whether I have perhaps met them in Grantham.

The wonderful and inspiring thing is that despite the casualties, recruitment is not drying up. For decades after the Second World War you could serve in the army – regular or territorial – for twenty years or more without hearing a shot fired in anger. Now you can be virtually certain of seeing – and in the case of the T.A. having the opportunity to volunteer for – action.

We all want a more peaceful world. It is not likely to come about in the near future. Meantime we will continue to face the choice of meeting threats to us far afield where they originate, or waiting until they come closer.

Peace and security here ultimately depend on the bravery, discipline, hard training and professionalism of our serving men and women in distant theatres abroad.

Next time you meet one or two of them in a Grantham pub you might like to buy them a drink.