Just as hundreds of young men line up at Warwick Camp tomorrow for the Bermuda Regiment's recruit camp, so the annual debate about conscription warms up again.

That debate has added currrency as writs have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging conscription on human rights grounds, and this should at least clarify just what rights the Government has to conscript soldiers in peacetime.

At the risk of pre-judging the case, it would be valid to suggest that the courts would be loath to remove right of Government to call on people to defend the Island, but the case will no doubt raise several important and interesting questions.

The first is just what function the Regiment serves. This has been the subject of considerable discussion, both within and without the Regiment, but beyond the purely ceremonial, it is getting harder to justify its internal security role as memories of the 1960s and 1970s fade.

To be sure, it would be unwise to arbitrarily remove a major deterrent to civil unrest, but the fact remains that it has now been a quarter century ? leaving aside its embodiment after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks ? since the Regiment was needed to support the Police.

More recently, the Regiment's major function has been as a disaster relief organisation, in Bermuda after Hurricanes Emily and Fabian, and overseas in various Caribbean islands struck by hurricanes. While no one would question the value of the Regiment's highly praised work in this regard, it can be argued that an organisation other than a military might be better suited to this kind of work.

There have also been endless discussions about converting at least part of the Regiment to perform Coast Guard duties, including air and sea rescue and as a support to the Police Marine Section. These discussions, unfortunately, never seem to turn into action, but the Regiment could better justify its role if it expanded its marine role.

The Regiment's greatest contribution over the years has been to help provide discipline and to teach leadership to generations of young men, and women who might not get it otherwise. Many young people, including some of the most unwilling recruits, truly find themselves in the Regiment, and the value of this should not be underestimated.

Equally importantly, and this has become more critical as the Island's public education system and private schools have boomed, the Regiment provides a leveller in society where people from all walks of life are forced to work and live together, often building lifelong friendships and relationships that might otherwise never happen, even in this small island.

This is a vital service to the community, but it cannot be strictly said to be a role for the Regiment. Other organisations can provide the same function, as the Bermuda Sloop is showing.

The next question about the Regiment directly concerns conscription and the random nature of the draft. When one person has his name drawn out of a hat and the next does not ? and women are exempted entirely ? it does seem unfair.

How much better it would be for the Island to have a system in which all young people were required to give a certain amount of time to the community. This need not necessarily be in military service. It could be service to the Reserve Police or St. John Ambulance, which is already an established practice, but it could also be working for Habitat for Humanity, working with youth groups, at the hospital and so on. Within this system, there almost certainly would be a place for a possibly smaller ? and more effective ? Bermuda Regiment in which more of the willing took part.

As we have stated, it seems unlikely that the courts will reject the Government's powers to conscript, but this challenge still provides an opportunity for the Regiment particularly and the community generally to think about the army's role and how best to use the many talents of Bermuda's youth.