THE situation at Catterick Garrison relating to the numbers of young soldiers committing suicide there seems worrying, at least at first glance.

Seven deaths of this nature in six years seems a large number. But it is worth pointing out that Catterick is Europe's biggest army base. Indeed it is one of the largest in the world with a permanent and transient population larger than the nearby town of Richmond. The infantry training centre has thousands of young soldiers passing through it every year, young men who are likely to be staying away from home for the first time, in an environment very alien to any they have known before.

That, of course, does not absolve the Army of its responsibility to look after its young charges. But it does provide a context in which to view the deaths there since 1997 and the persistent plea for a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding them.

Any inquiry would examine the families' accusations against the Army, of course. But equally worthy of examination is the problem the Army has with recruiting (our own Green Howards is an honourable exception here). Any Army recruiting officer will tell you that finding mentally strong, as well as physically fit, young men to serve is increasingly difficult.

It is not just a side-effect of relatively buoyant economy and very short dole queues. While the nation still seems able to breed plenty of young hooligans, its ability to produce young men able to survive and thrive in the school of hard knocks, which we imagine early days in Army is and still should be, seems to be fundamentally impaired.