Boots and Bearskins: Life as a Recruit in the Scots Guards

For a young 17 year old boy, the thought of recruitment into the Scots Guards for three years prior to joining the Edinburgh City Police was an exciting prospect but their renowned discipline was daunting and I was not sure that I was up to the required standard. After some deep consideration, on the 11th June 1959, I took the Oath to Her Majesty the Queen and went through the gates of the Guards depot at Caterham, and entered a world of drill parades, discipline and military humour.