 He decided to volunteer for regular service instead, intending to return to the law after the war, and in 1900 was commissioned into the regular DCLI, being immediately posted to the 1st Battalion in Dum Dum, India.Shortly afterwards, the battalion moved to Ceylon as a guard battalion for the Boer prisoner of war camp.After two years, the battalion was finally posted to South Africa, where Childs was appointed adjutant and quartermaster of the rest camp at Stellenbosch.