Member

I am also of the view that this reorganisation will destroy the voluntary character of the associations. The RFCAs are not and never have been ordinary arm’s-length bodies of Whitehall. They were established in their modern form under the Reserve Forces Act 1996, but their lineage runs back to the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 and, further still, to the county associations that Haldane created to bind the volunteer soldier to his own community. Their governance has always rested on people who give their time freely, including reservists, cadet force adult volunteers, employers, local authority representatives, members of the regular services and, importantly, the lord-lieutenancy. Voluntarism is at the very epicentre of the RFCAs; it is why local businesses release employees for an annual camp, why head teachers make school halls available for cadet units, and why ex-regulars, up and down the country, sacrifice their evenings and weekends for the benefit of the nation.