Doing Their Bit The Voluntary Aid Detachment  Wounded patients
at Napsbury  Over the centuries the history of our country has
been littered with governmental mistakes and mishaps. How
refreshing then, that in 1908 the new Secretary of State for
War, Lord Haldane, undertook reforms in the army which were to
have far-reaching effects.  He established a new part-time army
of volunteers who were fully-trained soldiers in full-time jobs
and who were organised on a county system. This Territorial
Force became jokingly known as the 'Saturday Night Soldiers' as
the young men who joined were taught to shoulder arms at weekly
meetings and drills. They even attended summer camp and many
'Terriers' were at camp when war was declared in August 1914.
In 1909, with unbelievable foresight, the War Office issued a
'Scheme for the Organisation of Voluntary Aid in England and
Wales' which recognised the need to provide sufficient medical
backup to supplement the Territorial Force in the event of war.
Ultimate efficiency would