FURTHER to the letter (September 6) from T R Spratt from the Wessex Society asking why Wessex is being treated so differently by the Army. The name is proudly carried by 43 (Wessex) Brigade which has its headquarters at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain.

The brigade is successor to 43 Wessex Division that fought so gallantly in Europe following the Normandy invasion of 1944. Today the brigade is commended by regular Army officers and soldiers while most units are comprised of Territorial Army soldiers. The brigade covers the seven countries of the south-west of England and the shoulder flash on the sleeve of every soldier is, appropriately, the Wessex Wyvern. The brigade has taken on some high profile duties in recent months including the evacuation of 2,500 young people from Dartmoor during the Ten Tors Challenge in May and was the armed forces command during the flooding in Gloucester and Tewkesbury.

Furthermore, the region is also home to the Royal Wessex Yeomanry which has its headquarters at Bovington Camp in Dorset. The naming of the various regiments to become the Mercian Regiment was part of the initiative announced by the government in 2005. Soldiers from the Mercian Regiment are recruited mostly from the West Midlands.

The Devon and Dorset Regiment and the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire regiments became part of The Rifles in February when they merged with others to become the largest infantry regiment in the Army. Because they recruit nationwide it was more appropriate that they have a national identity rather than a regional one. And in any case, the Wessex name is already proudly carried by this brigade.

BRIGADIER J T JACKSON, headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade.