New Tartans, New Tunes

Ever since Defense Minister Duncan Sandys announced his radical decision last April to cut Britain's army almost in half, London's bleak, grey War Office has gone almost on a wartime footing of late nights and worried councils, to determine which of the nation's famed regiments should be spared and which must go.Last week 46-year-old War Secretary John Hare faced newsmen and a battery of television lights to break the news. In less than an hour, Hare sounded the Last Post for 51 major army units and many more smaller units. By 1962, Britain's army, now 370,000 strong, will number only 165,000 men.

Scarcely one of Britain's honored regiments escaped unchanged. The famed Brigade of Guards will retain their regimental cap badges, but the Coldstream and Grenadier Guards will lose one battalion each. The First King's Dragoon Guards (given permission in 1767 to ride long-tailed, bay mounts while others ride black horses) will be merged with the Queen's Bays.

Mixed Breed. Sir Winston Churchill's regiment, the Fourth Queen's Own Hussars, will be merged with the Eighth King's Royal Irish Hussars, the Royal Scots Fusiliers with the Highland Light Infantry. The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (which suffered the heaviest casualties at Waterloo) now becomes one with the Somerset Light Infantry (nicknamed "The Illustrious Garrison" after its defense of Jellalabad in 1842). Two of the best known of the Scottish regiments, the Seaforth Highlanders and the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders must form one unit, find new tartans for their men, new tunes for their pipes.

Britain's reduction in her military force will mean more than the loss of storied regiments and colorful uniforms and customs. Some 7,000 officers and 60,000 other ranks who had made the military their career must now earn their wages in "civvy street."

To ease the blow, the War Office set up a special fund totaling nearly $140 million for severance payments, terminal grants and pensions. Examples: a colonel retired at 45 after 24 years' service can receive as much as $16,800 in severance pay, a terminal grant of $7,728, and a pension of $2,576 yearly. A sergeant retired after 17 years will receive $3,500 severance pay, a terminal grant of $630, a pension of $384 yearly.

Civvy Street. In Britain's present full employment, enlisted men and noncoms should have little trouble finding jobs. Civvy street should also not be too hard for junior officers with technical training in engineering, electronics, navigation, etc. So far, colonels, brigadiers and rear admirals--men in their 40s or beyond--are finding themselves most difficult to place. In factories and firms they find themselves regarded, and resented, as Colonel Blimps. Private companies, however, are delighted to pick up ex-field marshals at fancy prices for their boards of directors. Too many honors without enough rank can also be bad. "A knighthood," observed the London Economist, "is fatal; it often confines a man to running a charity."

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