Regiment duty has forced national team defender Stanton Lewis out of this Sunday?s FIFA World Cup first round, second leg qualifying match against Montserrat.

Lewis was ordered to attend a camp in Jamaica with the Regiment, and as such has been omitted from national coach Kenny Thompson?s plans for at least the next two weeks.

The CedarBridge Academy teacher only learned late last Friday that he was required to travel overseas with the Regiment the very next day ? the order derailing his plans to accompany team-mates to Montserrat this Thursday.

Bermuda Football Association president, Larry Mussenden, himself a former major in the Regiment, confirmed Lewis? unavailability yesterday.

?Stanton is currently fulfilling his responsibility with the Bermuda Regiment on their annual overseas camp,? said the BFA chief.

?Our people can serve their country in a variety of ways. And under the Defence Act he is required to serve his annual camp.?

Lewis was originally led to believe he had been temporarily exempted from Warwick Camp to concentrate solely on Bermuda?s World Cup preparations, claiming coach Thompson, Mussenden and Regiment top brass had reached some sort of verbal agreement excusing him from military duties.

The Boulevard player, upset over the eleventh hour turn of events, spoke with late last Friday night by telephone, but later declined to go on record.

Lewis? omission could open the door for promising Dandy Town defender Randy Swan to make his World Cup debut, should he recover from a slight hamstring pull in time for Sunday?s clash in the volcano-ravaged island, which now has a population of around 4,500.

North Village defender Kofi Dill is another who could get the nod as Bermuda set out to polish off Montserrat following their thumping 13-0 triumph in the first leg, and advance to the second round to take on El Salvador ? listed 97 in FIFA?s world rankings ? in June.

National coach Thompson, who watched the US take on Haiti in Miami over the weekend, said Lewis? situation was ?unfortunate? but ?beyond? his control.

?We would rather have had Stanton available to the national team but at this time we can?t look at it as being an urgent situation based on our position in the first leg,? he said.

?The situation is that he is unavailable and beyond our control and so we have to move on . . . but it is not a desperate situation because of the comfortable lead we have.?

The national team will train every night this week before departing for Montserrat on Thursday, while US-based defender Kevin Richards has not been included in the touring party as he has again committed himself to studies in the US.

As for Lewis? claims he had been temporarily excused from attending military service, Thompson stated: ?I don?t know anything about that. That is between the Regiment and Lewis because it is their decision.?

Bermuda are currently ranked 179 in the world, up for four spots from 183 last December.