A ROYAL Engineer from Bury was chosen for the national Parliamentary launch of the new Army Reserve.

Lance Corporal Calum MacGregor serves in 202 Squadron, 75 Regiment, Royal Engineers, based at The Army Reserve Centre in Failsworth.

The Army Reserve is the new name for the section of the British Army which consists of people who give up some of their spare time to serve in the newly fully integrated British Army, regular and reserve.

In civilian life, Lance Corporal MacGregor is an officer with Greater Manchester Police, based in Manchester city centre. He has been in the Army for 14 years, in which time he has worked in Afghanistan, Croatia, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kuwait and the Falkland Islands.

He said: “It is an exciting time to be in the squadron which is now changing its role as part of the new Army Reserve. I enjoy being in the Army Reserve as a Royal Engineer as it is very different to being a police officer.

“I enjoy the opportunity to undertake paid adve-nture training, and will shortly be going mount-ain climbing. The squadron also has a great social life.”

In addition to the Army pay and tax free annual bounty of £1,691 they already receive, soldiers in the Army Reserve will now get paid holidays and public sector pensions, as well as more paid access to sports, adventure tra-ining, overseas deploym-ents, and civilian qualifications.

There are also opportunities for reservists who wish to do so to work full-time for the Army.

The aim is to have recruited an Army Reserve of 30,000 trained personnel fully integrated into a British Army of 112,000 by 2018.