against the idea of compulsory service in the Bermuda Regiment are sure to follow. Responses are never half-way. The candidates either loathe the idea or accept it reluctantly.

Generally, fancy phrases like "serving one's country'' or "doing one's civic duty'' don't enter their minds. Rather, they perceive military service as a negative event in their lives, involving an alien lifestyle which includes mindless drills, verbal abuse, bad food, and pointless training to rout an enemy which may never come.

Many dread turning 18, when their names will be entered in a military computer, and pray that in the lottery of life they won't be called.

For those that are, January is "doomsday,'' when they leave the soft life and mum's cooking behind and enter recruit camp to, as some in authority have it, "become men''.

But do they? And is the Bermuda Regiment, in the 21st century, really a kinder, gentler army -- as claimed? The Royal Gazette's Nancy Acton visited Warwick Camp and chatted with some of the raw recruits during their second week of recruit camp. Here are their impressions.

Private Otis Johnson , the self-described "jokester'' in 9 Platoon, was all smiles and bonhomie after ten days, despite all the training, and sampling the inside of the guardhouse for a minor infringement.

If not yet convinced that military life was the ultimate experience, he had at least accepted his fate, and was doing his best to view it in a positive light.

"I really didn't want to do this, but now I have learned a lot of things,'' he said.

In fact, Pte. Johnson had been legally dodging the call-up for years, but eventually grew tired of it hanging over his head.

"So I said, `I'm going to be a man and do my time, and do my best at everything','' he related. "Everything is `so far so good'. Everybody is nice to me, and I just listen to what the officers say. I don't do any answering back because I'm not like that anyway.'' Pte. Johnson, who eats "fish and bird but no meat'', admits he found the field rations distasteful, but had no complaints about the mess hall food.

"And even if I did, there is always plenty of peanut butter and bread around to make sandwiches with,'' he noted.

The new recruit, who is a boat mechanic in real life, even had high praise for his platoon leader, Lieut. Barclay Simmons.

"He's nice,'' he said. "He works us hard, and makes us think as a team. I like that, it makes me feel good.'' Like most rookie soldiers, however, Pte. Johnson quickly learned how fine is the line between military and civilian terminology, and the punishment misnomers can bring.

"For instance, you can't call this a gun,'' he explained, fingering his firearm. "It is either a weapon or a rifle. Get it wrong and you have to do push-ups, and seven push-ups are considered one! "One, two, my arms are bent, I love the Reg-i-ment...'' he intoned.

Experiencing the full effects of tear gas was another experience he could have happily done without, and as for that spell in the guard room... well, he understood.

Arriving at camp still suffering from influenza, an accidental, messy cough was viewed through military eyes as spitting.

"But I only spent 20 minutes in the guard room because they know I'm a good guy. They showed me respect,'' he smiled.

At 23 the oldest man in his platoon, Pte. Johnson said he was trying to help the younger recruits to think rationally and collectively, and he very much enjoyed meeting all his new comrades in arms.

Private Andrew Haak , 23, on the other hand was anything but a happy recruit camper. With a good job in a bank, family responsibilities, and studying hard for career-related examinations, the computer engineer had his goals all mapped out, and he saw the military as an unwanted impediment.

"I am not pleased,'' he said. "I will be almost 27 when I get out.'' Now that he was in boot camp, however, his feelings about army life were mixed, although he had to admit that some of it was "fun stuff''.

Initially, Pte. Haak also found the immaturity of the younger recruits irritating, but said "a good talk'' amongst them all had helped bring about a better understanding.

Firmly against conscription, he also felt it was wrong that women were not similarly bound by law to serve their country, and he failed to see why female soldiers could wear their hair long, while the men could not.

Particularly distasteful to Pte. Haak was the profanity and crude terminology those in authority used towards recruits. He found it insulting, offensive and bad for morale, and was certain that the men would respond far better to a more civilised form of address.

With the courage of his convictions, the trainee soldier was unbowed by the immediate presence of Recruit Training Team commander, Major Brian Gonsalves, who listened patiently and not only treated the young man's concerns with respect, but took the time to politely advise him to whom they should be addressed. He also explained why certain things happened the way they did.

Undoubtedly, the Major's reasoned response was a far cry from the days when a recruit probably would have been punished for daring to say anything adversarial. Even so, Pte. Haak remained firm.

"I just want my three years and two months over,'' he concluded.

Fresh from City Hall stage, where he had the lead role in the Christmas pantomime, `Aladdin', Private Devaune Ratteray was pleasantly surprised by his first ten days of military life.

"I was expecting a lot worse,'' he confessed. "I'm not saying it isn't hard, but attention to detail is important. I thought it was going to be a lot of shooting and push-ups, but the training camp idea is to get us used to the life of being a soldier, so there is some slack. You make mistakes, but overall I am enjoying it. I think it's more good than bad.'' Through his involvement in theatre, Pte. Ratteray said he was familiar with the concept of teamwork, and was surprised to discover that the food was much better than he had imagined.

Viewed overall, he found recruit camp to be "interesting, because when you get a group together everyone has to interact''.

"It's been an experience to sit down with these guys in the barracks and find out where you are and where you are coming from,'' he explained.

Asked if he would recommend the Regiment to other young men, Pte. Ratteray gave a qualified response.

"I wouldn't discourage anyone from going if they were called,'' he said.

"When you get a group of people together who don't know each other, teamwork is going to be an issue. You will have leaders and followers, and you do need that.'' And what would his priority be when camp was dismissed? "I'm going to sleep, sleep, sleep,'' he smiled.

Private Harry Hunt, a trainee land surveyor with the Ministry of Works and Engineering, regarded his military service as "another stepping stone'' in his life.

Aged 23, he is a university graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree who travelled to New Zealand to pursue post-graduate studies because he wanted to "further his interests''.

From the time he went abroad initially, the Regiment had Pte. Hunt in its sights, however, so he knew that inevitably he would have to serve. He admitted, however, that he was somewhat disappointed when it finally happened because he will be going abroad again for job-related studies.

A member of 10 Platoon -- "the green, mean fighting machine,'' he quipped -- like other mature recruits Pte. Hunt found dealing with the younger men in terms of teamwork difficult.

"It's been a real challenge trying to get guys together and do even the simple things,'' he said. "I've been all over the world, and discipline is one of the universal factors. However, on two or three days we have actually had decent conversations within our platoon to discuss what's going on and what's not going on.'' As for his future role in the Regiment, Pte. Hunt not only saw the possibility of using his land surveying skills in a military setting, but also planned to take the corporal's cadre course.

"I want to be a junior officer,'' he said. "I'm not sure where I will be going after that. I'm thinking about the regimental police, or maybe going from Corporal to Sergeant.'' About recruit camp, Pte. Hunt was philosophical.

"You are here and you can't do anything about it, so you make the best of it,'' he said.

He also noted that the recruits were paid by the Regiment for their time in camp.

"It's not a lot, but we still get some financial advantage -- if you're a good boy, that is,'' he smiled.

And it seems that Pte. Hunt was a very good boy indeed, for when recruit camp ended, he had won the coveted Best Recruit award.

Explaining the Regiment's philosophy on the contentious issue of conscription, Major Gonsalves said: "We want guys to come here because they want to. We don't want to wave the stick and threaten them because in the long run it doesn't make sense.

"We try to make them understand they are serving their country, and their training is going to make it fun. It's not all bad.'' To that end, the Major said, arising out of the comprehensive Review of the Bermuda Regiment, 2000, consideration was being given to, among other things, providing educational incentives and career training schemes for conscripts which would be linked to military service.

Smiling through: Despite the rigours of recruit camp and mixed feelings on conscription (from left) Privates Harry Hunt, Devaune Ratteray, Andrew Haak and Otis Johnson retained their smiles.