AS the campaign grows to save Swindon's own army regiment, the men serving in it have been warned that within months they are to be sent to one of the world's trouble spots.
Exactly where the Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (RGBW) is to be deployed on operational duty has not yet been made public.
But it is expected to be either Bosnia in September or Afghanistan early next year.
The decision to disband the RGBW was announced by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon as part of an overall plan to streamline the army and cut costs. But the RGBW and its many supporters argue that the regiment's outstanding record and its cost effectiveness has earned it the right to be kept going as a complete battalion.
The RGBW was formed in 1994 following the successful amalgamation of the Glorious Glosters and the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment.
And now some of the army's big guns including retired Major General Robin Grist who was the last Colonel of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the first Colonel of the RGBW are throwing their weight behind the battle to save the regiment.
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