Families of the young recruits who died at Deepcut Army barracks reacted with outrage to the use of the base for a media open day yesterday.

The gates of the controversial barracks were thrown open in a bid to help the base shed its negative image.

The Surrey home of the Defence College of Logistics has been the subject of intense media interest since the mysterious deaths of four recruits - privates Geoff Gray, from Seaham, County Durham, Sean Benton, James Collinson and Cheryl James - between 1995 to 2002.

Subsequent investigations highlighted bullying in the forces and called for a major upheaval of the approach to their duty of care.

But speaking out for the first time about their barracks, military chiefs, staff and recruits yesterday insisted that Deepcut was no different to any other training establishment.

''Civilian and military staffs here have been yearning for an opportunity to open our doors to the media and demonstrate more openly what we do,'' said Brigadier John Wallace, the Commander of the Defence College of Logistics.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said that while the deaths were tragic, the way the military trains and looks after the welfare of recruits has moved on in recent years. He added: ''If the training system was fundamentally flawed our soldiers would not be the envy of the world."

But the open day was labelled a ''farce'' and ''insensitive'' by the families of the dead soldiers.

In a statement, 18-year-old Cheryl James' parents, Des and Doreen James, said: ''We find the Ministry of Defence invitation for the media to attend Deepcut Army barracks insensitive even by their own appalling standards.

''For Mr Ingram to entertain such shameful spin before the review of the circumstances surrounding the four deaths at the camp - initiated by him and undertaken by Nicholas Blake QC - has reported is the most astonishing case of double standards we have experienced in this entire sorry affair.''

Geoff Gray, whose 17-year-old son Geoff was found with two gunshot wounds to his head, said: ''If they are going to show that there have been changes within the training regime, and that young soldiers are treated better, then that's all well and good.

''The very reason for those changes within the training regime is because of the Deepcut deaths. But that doesn't help any of us find out how our children died.

''Nicholas Blake is expected to publish his review in December. This could be seen as a huge PR stunt."