Many recruits in this year's Bermuda Regiment are so deficient in literacy skills that they cannot even read the Oath of Office without help.

An insider at the Regiment made this claim and he said he was shocked to see that the majority of young men swearing in were unable to read the few paragraphs handed to them.

"They would look at the paper and ask us if they were expected to read it,'' the insider told The Royal Gazette . "Then many of them would tell us that they can't do it.'' "It was sad. They couldn't recognise the word `successor','' he added. "Most of them had trouble with that and `heirs', so when it came to saying `her heirs and successors' we had to help them.'' Recruits from 18- to 25-years-old were seen to be having difficulty, according to the Regiment insider.

"Many of the guys who showed up smartly dressed had just as much difficulty as guys who looked a bit rough,'' he said.

"A guy would come in, speak very politely to us, and be well dressed. I would be thinking that he will just breeze through the oath, but he would have the same problem.'' Bermuda Regiment adjutant Capt. Eddie Lamb said he could not substantiate the report.

"We only see the recruits for a very short time and we have no way of measuring their literacy,'' he said.

"We do not measure their reading skills or their literacy and it would be totally wrong for me to say we've noticed a difference or a decline.

"I haven't seen any noticeable difference in this set of recruits over others.''