THE ARMY has withdrawn from the effort to eradicate foot and mouth disease in Devon after three months, writes Alison Stephenson.

Army personnel, who were based at Okehampton Camp and Wyvern Barracks in Exeter, returned to normal duties on Wednesday.

Devon was the first county to receive the Army's assistance in the foot and mouth crisis on March 19 when 56 Royal Military Police were brought in to help supervise the slaughter and disposal of carcasses.

Since then, Operation Peninsula has proved to be the Army's biggest peacetime commitment for a generation — at the height of the crisis numbers rose to 337.

A spokeswoman for the new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which has taken over from MAFF, said the army was no longer needed because the number of cases had dropped significantly.

'Our staff have taken over the job that the Army was doing and unless there is a resurgence of the disease, which is unlikely, we can deal with it ourselves.'

Lt Col Robin Vickers, who was the commanding officer Operation Peninsula at the height of the crisis, said the Army would remain vigilant.

'Our primary work is deploying operations around the world and military personnel will be returning to such places as Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Northern Ireland but with an opportunity to come back to Britain at short notice should the need arise.'

He described the foot and mouth operation as a 'difficult task' not least because the policies were unpopular and the obvious distress the disease was causing to the farming community.

'There were many questions about the best way to deal with the crisis and everybody — the NFU, local authorities and health authority all had a different view on it,' he said.

'This, coupled with the fact that we had to find solutions quickly and meet the timetables the Government was proposing, led to great difficulties.'

But the officer added that the Army's long association with the area, particularly Okehampton and its people, worked to its advantage in terms of good relations and getting the job done.

'The training we have had and the experience we have had in humanitarian situations in other countries prepared us all for this particular task,' he added.

'Whilst it was a challenge we all feel we have done something worthwhile in order to make things slightly easier for people to return to a normal life.'