Warminster Sgt Major "stretchered out".

A Warminster soldier was given a special send off when he ended a 39 year career working in and alongside the British Army on Wednesday.

Sergeant Major Steve Titley of the Military Provost Guard Service was invited to lie on a stetcher outside the guardroom at the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster and was carried to the main gate by his colleagues. 

Steve had earlier taken part in a surprise ceremony at the new Operations Room which he had helped to set up in the Garrison Guard Room.  He thought he was showing the Commandant around but was handed pliers and asked to cut barbed wire which had been placed across the door.  A plaque was then unveiled which revealed that the room had been named  Titleys Ops Room in his honour.

Steve joined the Army in 1972 and spent the following 24 years with the Parachute Regiment.  After leaving the Army in 1996 he joined the Military Provost Guard Service working in Wilton and Warminster.

"Today has been a real surprise, but it's been excellent - I'm really pleased.  I've had a great career, but that's me done now - I'm really looking forward to a change," he said.

Steve, who lives in Corton, plans to set up his own garden maintenance business.