Letter: Quick march into the past

Sir: On hearing of the Government's latest initiative to encourage school cadet forces (report, 23 January; letters, 24, 25 January) I was reminded of a turn of events some 38 years ago, when I was a 16-year- old member of a grammar school cadet force.

Up to this time, my friends and I had obediently complied with the CCF training, looking on it as a reasonable preparation for National Service. As soon as the announcement came that compulsory service was to be discontinued, rendering the training quite irrelevant, a large number of us suddenly realised our disgust with gun culture, and left the CCF forthwith.

Were we wimps, presagers of Sixties' flower power, or teenagers rebelling against our fathers' traditions? I feel that we had it right.

RICHARD TYACK

High Barnet, Hertfordshire