the Bermuda Regiment has been mixed, given the wide range of emotions that the army engenders.

This ranges from those who wholeheartedly support everything the Regiment does and think it should carry on exactly as it is, to those who think it should be abolished completely.

The Regiment was merged out of the segregated Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Rifles in the mid-1960s. Its primary role then and now was as an internal security unit and support for the Police in the event of riots or civil disobedience.

From the 1960s until the early 1980s, this role was justified as the Regiment was embodied to deal with civil unrest ranging from riots to general strikes.

But that function has become harder to justify as the Island has seemingly settled into a calmer era. The last riots were in 1977, and the last general strike was in 1981. The Regiment was not embodied in the early 1990s, when the Bermuda Industrial Union called a peaceful Islandwide strike.

In the meantime, the Regiment has been called on to assist with reconstruction of the Island after natural disasters such as Hurricane Emily in 1987 and it is here that it may have made its most valuable contribution in recent memory.

The Regiment also has a ceremonial role, parading for the Opening of Parliament, the Queen's Birthday and so on.

The Regiment's other contribution is social. It brings together young men and women from all walks of life and throws them into demanding situations where they have to perform as a team, regardless of race or class. For many recruits, it gives them discipline and an opportunity to lead that they have not had. That in turn leads to self-confidence and can turn a "wall-sitter'' into a community leader.

Nonetheless, too many conscripts seem to find the whole experience a burden, and there may be a need to make the Regiment more challenging than it is now.

It was against this background that the Regiment review took place this year.

The report itself has not been released, but the recommendations that Government and Government House have decided to adopt have been.

For the most part, these make sense, although some of them will be more difficult to implement than others.

Expanding the Boat Troop is a valuable idea with wide public support. Since the closure of the US Base, Bermuda has had a limited search and rescue and Coast Guard capability and the Regiment is the natural unit to use to expand it.

Reducing the length of service is a more questionable measure. It take about one year to fully train a Regiment private or Lance Corporal. By cutting the length of service to two years, the Regiment will only get the benefit of the soldier for one year. This could also means that the Regiment will lose many non-commissioned officers when they are still needed.

But it may be the money saved by cutting service back -- and the second rifle company which will go too -- will be used to pay for the proposed static guards at the Cabinet Office and the Premier's residence.

While there is a rationale for having a guard at nights at the Premier's home, and it seems to be a waste to have a trained Police officer doing the job, it is not clear why a guard is needed at the Cabinet Office, except for decoration.

Nonetheless, if this is going to occur, then it begs the question why it is not being done at Government House, where trained Police officers are also deployed.

Still, it is hard to imagine a more soul-destroying or tedious job than mounting guard at all these places; is this all these full-time soldiers are going to do or will they be rotated into other duties which are at least more challenging? Finally, training soldiers to meet natural disasters makes a good deal of sense while it would also give the soldiers exposures to different trades.

All in all, the proposals are something of a mixed bag. Some are good ideas which will be hard to implement, while others are of dubious value. As the Regiment and the Defence Department "drill down'' into these ideas, it is to be hoped that the Government will accept their word on which are practical and can be implemented and which cannot.