Two young men avoided prison yesterday despite repeatedly skipping Regiment duty after pledging to attend Warwick Camp if given a second chance.

Eujente Outerbridge, 20, of North Shore Road in Hamilton, pleaded guilty to failing to turn up 21 times between December 2007 and May of this year.

The court heard that Outerbridge was enlisted on December 14, 2006 and still has two years and five weeks of service to fulfill.

In October he was given 14 days of extra duty for missed attendance and on October 20, he was ordered to restart his first day of service after 16 absences.

Outerbridge told the court he has turned things around in the past month and promised to attend military duty from now on.

"Attendance won't be a problem when I start again in September. That's in the past," he said.

Christopher Flood, 21, of Keith Hall Road in Warwick, skipped his regimental duties 23 times between January and June of this year.

Flood was enlisted as a private soldier on December 3, 2005, but was forced to restart his service in June 2006. He has three years and one month of service remaining.

He told the court: "I really have no excuse. I am just hoping to have a second chance."

Flood had a doctor's note for one month of missed attendance and his mother told the court he was abroad for nine months for health reasons.

However, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner was not satisfied with his excuse.

"If you are ill, there is an interior system whereby you can apply for necessary relief, but that isn't the case here, because you didn't do it," Mr. Warner said.

The Magistrate handed both young men a three-month sentence, suspended for 24 months — meaning if either fails to attend Regiment, the sentence will be activated and they will be imprisoned for 90 days.