YOUR correspondent Mr Stan Sherrell is right (Letters, March 21) when he suggests we need properly trained armed forces. But he is wrong in his assumption that this can only be achieved by the continued military abuse of the Dartmoor National Park
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Military thinking is now heading towards a leaner, faster reacting army. This new force will continue to be poorly equipped as long as money is wasted in holding on to unnecessary range areas — and the army is paying for almost as much land as it held during the height of the Cold War.
A huge part of the Defence budget, taxpayers' money, goes not on equipment, but into the coffers of the Duchy of Cornwall for the rent on the Dartmoor ranges. Better that it be spent on training our soldiers in environments similar to where they might actually have to fight.
John Bainbridge
Chief executive
Dartmoor Preservation Association