The Ministry of Defence's recent expression of concern that military bands and bawling sergeants-major may be exceeding the decibel limits set by health and safety legislation confirms my own experience of the Queen's armed forces.

That "Wakey-wakey!" at 6am was most unwelcome and, as for the bugle at reveille, many is the time I requested they put a sock in it!

The drive for a quieter military world must surely accelerate the search for a silent explosive for the constant booming of shells and bombs can be very upsetting for our soldiers and cause much distress.

I understand that to overcome this noise problem our service chiefs are looking again at the bow and arrow and the catapult. The sword and lance were, at one time, a more silent method of dispatching any enemy - apart from the screams of the victims, that is.

But, it is pointed out, the employment of the battleaxe, to decapitate at one blow, can dispose of this problem.

More modern thinkers in this field plead the case for the bacteria bomb as being the ultimate silent killer, but this, of course, may infringe some other clause of health and safety legislation.

-R.F. Osborne, Rushlake Close, Coldean, Brighton