Lower Standards Of course the.Army could do a good deal
to improve matters. It should be far more ruthless in discharging those who have committed offences of this type. It should be allowed to ban the sale of spirits in junior rank canteens. The War Office should build NAAFI centres or clubs in places where there are none, such as Minden and Osnabruck. But the really depressing thing about all that has happened is the evidence of a lower standard of recruit. There is concern in BAOR lest an all-regular army causes a decline both in quality and in behaviour. Yet this is only to be expected if recruits have to be extracted from a society enjoying full employment. In such circumstances the Army will attract a few of the best and many of the worst. The Government seems unprepared to consider any alternative. Even so, it would havb been wiser not to have given in to pressure and imposed a curfew; the sensible thing would have been to do nothing.
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