being considered by the committee looking at the Regiment's future.

Another possibility is a larger number of full time soldiers with the rest made up of part timers.

Larry Burchall, a retired regiment captain and one of the five members of the committee looking at the future of the unit, warned, however, that a full time army would be extremely expensive.

Mr. Burchall, lawyer Victoria Pearman, businessman Charlton Dill and two British Army officers, Brigadier Simon Young and Major Tim House are the review board members who will continue their consultations until Friday.

Regiment faces possible changes At a public meeting at the Regiment headquarters, Warwick Camp, Mr. Burchall said the part time force has 700 members and an annual defence budget of $4.2 million.

"We have considered a full time regiment if the community is prepared to accept a huge rise in the defence budget to something like twice the current budget,'' he said.

"For $4.2 million you are going to get far fewer full time soldiers for your dollar. In 1987 when a medium sized hurricane hit the Island we had a man force of 700 working for three weeks to put Bermuda back together again.

"You could get 100 very enthusiastic full time soldiers but if you got hit its going to take them a lot longer to clear it up. Going full time means expense but we are looking at it.'' Mr. Burchall stressed, however, that it was one of a number of options being considered by the review board. Brigadier Yong said he was disappointed that only around 20 people turned up for the public meeting, but some excellent points were made.

He said: "The views were fairly consistent about resentment toward conscription but conscription is not within the terms of reference of the review.'' Any decision on abolishing conscription would be a constitutional matter he said.

At the meeting, audience member Oliver Caisey suggested Bermuda would be better served with a naval force rather than an army force.