Young Adults Real Soldiers - Why Recruiting at 16 Should Continue.

The MOD has once again been attacked for the practise of recruiting 16yr olds to join the Armed Forces. According to reports cited in the Guardian, a paediatrician and health professional have attacked the MOD for the practise, which apparently puts childrens health at risk, and does not allow them the ability to make a rational choice.

There has long been opposition to the idea that 16yr olds can join the armed forces in the UK, which is apparently alone in Europe in permitting this practise to occur. There are concerns about the youth of the individuals, the risk they are exposed to and the fact that they may be too young to understand what they are getting into. Added to this are concerns that the Armed Forces recruit from deprived socio-economic areas, giving the perception that somehow young potential recruits are expendable cannon fodder.

There is a strong patronisingly paternalistic presumption in parts of UK society that somehow ‘experts know best’ when it comes to what young adults and people from deprived backgrounds need. It is frustrating to watch people from usually immensely privileged backgrounds, many of whom have had access to education and opportunity far beyond that which their supposed ‘victims’ will have access to, speak loftily about what is best, and why joining the Army is a bad thing.

AFC Harrogate- Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

The reality is that the Armed Forces do not recruit 16yr olds off the street and send them straight to war. Despite the long held myths, lovingly cherished in some quarters that uncaring generals want their cannon fodder young so as to be stupid enough to run at barbed wire entanglements, it is not possible to go to war as an under 18 year old.

Instead junior recruits will usually be put through training, education and given the chance to acquire skills and a trade. One only has to look at the immense work done by the Army Foundation College at Harrogate, who do a superb job at taking young people and providing them with the foundation skills for a successful career. Recruits under the age of 18 can give notice and leave as they see fit – the same as any other job.

Young adults today operate in a confusing world where they are placed under significant pressure to deliver results and make something of themselves. Many youngsters may feel left out, isolated or abandoned, and struggle to fit in to society. Others grow up in difficult circumstances and are perhaps looking for some direction, guidance and discipline to put their life back on track.

The Army is not an easy career choice – it is physically and mentally demanding, placing people in difficult circumstances where they have to deliver difficult things. But it is an employer that believes in training, education and recognition for peoples efforts.

Humphrey has lost count of the number of people he has met, or engaged with, who openly admit that as a youth they were directionless, in trouble and drifting in life and with few, if any, prospects for a successful career. Their big break, and chance to escape their difficult circumstances, came by the chance to join early and get into the military system before it was too late.

Some people thrive on military life, particularly at a young age where for the first time they are subject to discipline, but also genuinely supportive friends, encouragement, support and opportunity to make something of themselves. The process of training at places like Harrogate helps shape people who want to make something of their life.

For the military the benefit of entry under 18 is that it provides extra time to train up engineers and apprentices who need to do long training courses that may last several years. They can take people used to being in school and provide additional training to help them get a job that will give them a life time of skills and employability, while also providing a vital skill to the armed forces. In a future where there will be a battle for talent and engineers, the ability to recruit talented youth at 16 is vital in helping build this talent pool.

The rewards are considerable – despite the suggestion that somehow the Army is relying on ‘poor people’ as cannon fodder, the reality is that a career in the military provides a huge number of benefits. It offers accommodation, free educational qualifications – up to and including funding for MA’s and PhDs, the chance to travel the world and do Adventure Training, and the chance to make something of your life.

It is a job that is extremely well paid – for someone joining young and with no qualifications, they have the opportunity to be in a job earning almost £30k per year within a few years. The Army represents a very genuine opportunity to give people social mobility and escape their surroundings and give themselves, and their families, hope for a better future.

It is so frustrating to listen to people who have never served, and who have no concept of what it means to be part of something like this want to take away this chance for young people on the pathway to nowhere to instead make something of their life. How many lives that could amount to something magnificent will instead be missed and lost in a path of drudgery, due to poor life choices between 16 and 18?

 Raising the recruiting age will not help people who need an intervention and escape now – it merely makes it harder to offer an escape to people trapped in a life they want to leave behind. Humphrey is a passionate believer in the positive power of good that the military can make to chaotic lives that need direction. Look at the magnificent work of the Cadet Units, which are emphatically not recruiting organisations, but which exist to provide help and advice to young people and give them skills that can make an enormous difference too.

Only last week a 14yr old Cadet saved the life of a 92yr old woman who was in a car crash. Lance Corporal Rollisson took charge of a situation, delivering life saving first aid to someone, drawing on the skills taught in cadets, while  “When police arrived, one of the officers said "you seem to have this under control young lady’’ and started to move traffic so the ambulance could get through.”On completion, she then went to school for the day.

These actions were rightly praised on Twitter by senior officers, with the Army publicly recognising her efforts and commending her. Yet this is not unusual – a search for ‘Army cadet saved life’ on google brings up dozens of news stories of where the Cadet movement saved the life of members of the public, usually relying on the skills taught in the Cadets.

These youth are the people who should not be denied the chance to make something of their lives at age 16. The Cadet Movement, and the Army Foundation college is the sort of organisation that has the power and ability to make an enormous difference to people and give them a real chance in life.

Of course there needs to be special care taken, and there is no doubt that it can be challenging at times. The Armed Forces need to ensure that the recruits under 18 are properly looked after and not exposed – for they are still not an adult in the eyes of the law. But, the potential opportunities and reward that a career brings, and a path to escape is vital.

This is something Humphrey feels passionately about, living in an area where gang crime is a challenge. Watching young youths bleeding on the street outside his house from stab wounds, and the hysteria of mothers as they realise their child is on the streets with a knife, and then seeing armed police deployed to find them was deeply unsettling. The blunt reality is that there is an entire generation growing up who need an escape route to be a Soldier, not a ‘Solja’ and closing the door to them at 16 will not help.

The Armed Forces offer an amazing opportunity to make something of your life and explore your talents and abilities. It is easy when living in an ivory tower to want to reach out and ‘do good’ but in reality your misplaced intervention is making life worse for those you profess to want to help.

Give people a chance to be the best they can be in life – let them join at 16, don’t’ hamstring them by applying misguided social fluffiness and ruin peoples lives for the good of your social conscience.  Why not instead give people trust, responsibility, reward, training, adventure, challenge and hope? That’s ultimately what a career in the British Armed Forces is all about.