news & articles

latest news

Millions 'wasted' on junior army recuits, report claims
23/04/2013 The Telegraph

Tens of millions of pounds is wasted on training young soldiers for roles that could be filled more cost effectively by adults, a report has found.

recruitment age
Army recruitment at 16 'should stop'
23/04/2013 BBC

The "outdated" practice of recruiting 16-year-olds into the Army is wasting up to £94m a year and should stop, two human rights groups have said.

recruitment age
Recruiting British soldiers at 16 isn't just morally wrong. It's bad economics
23/04/2013 Open Democracy

The Ministry of Defence wastes £94 million every year training minors for army roles which could be filled more cost-effectively by adult recruits, says a new report launched today by human rights groups Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch.

recruitment age
Nuclear Weapons and Militarisation in the UK
28/03/2013 ForcesWatch

A society has to be militarised for a government to justify the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons to its citizens; militarisation creates a culture of acceptance. It popularises military euphemisms such as ‘Defence’, ‘Security’, and – particularly relevant to nuclear weapons – ‘deterrent’, and makes it hard to for those challenging these to be seen as credible.

military in society
Combat soldiers more likely to commit violent crimes: study
15/03/2013 Reuters

British soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan - particularly young men and those who have seen active combat - are more likely to commit violent crimes than their civilian counterparts, according to research published on Friday.

recruitment age, risks
US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans
01/02/2013 The Guardian

Last year, more active-duty soldiers killed themselves than died in combat. And after a decade of deployments to war zones, the Pentagon is bracing for things to get much worse

risks, suicide
State schools should set up army cadet forces to ensure pupils are 'life ready'
17/01/2013 Independent

Schools should also recruit more ex-armed service personnel, urges Labour

military in schools colleges
We have child soldiers in Britain too
03/01/2013 The Independent

Letter to the editor

recruitment age
'Remembrance Day poppies should be white'
31/12/2012 Telegraph

White poppies should be worn on Remembrance Sunday rather than the traditional red poppy to commemorate civilian victims rather than Britain's military dead, actor Mark Rylance has said.

remembrance
Fifty troops commit suicide after Iraq and Afghanistan tours
19/12/2012 The Telegraph

More than 50 members of the UK Armed Forces have committed suicide since serving in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, figures suggest.

risks, suicide

browse by theme

other useful articles

Young people and militarism
01/09/2011 A ForcesWatch report

In July ForcesWatch launched the Military Out of Schools campaign. Speakers Oskar Castro, a US activist in countering military recruitment, and Ben Griffin, ex-forces and the founder of fledgling Veterans for Peace UK, discussed how young people are militarised and what can be done about it.

military in schools colleges
Watching, and challenging, the armed forces
01/05/2010 Peace News

This article looks at the challenges posed by new military recruitment strategies including the “army showroom” concept and the “Start Thinking Soldier” internet and TV advertising campaign – both “initiatives which utilise the language and tools of computer games and simulation, which young people immediately relate to, and desire.”

From hero to zero
04/04/2010 Sunday Times
Michael Clohessy returned from Iraq with a distinguished war record — and ended up in prison. Our jails are swollen with former soldiers. Why can’t they stay out of trouble?
risks
One in 10 Army recruits 'bullied and intimidated'
16/11/2008 The Independent

A decade after Deepcut, MoD reports reveal failure to tackle problem affecting hundreds of trainees.

risks
Armed Forces personnel to go into schools, Conservatives pledge
28/09/2008 Telegraph

Service men and women will go into schools to mentor young tearaways, while troops will receive free teacher training and university tuition, the Conservatives will pledge. 

cadets
Cadet school
01/06/2008 Peace News

Controversial plans to radically expand military cadet corps in English state secondary schools are being pushed forward by Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, apparently backed by No 10. The plans were the idea of Quentin Davies, a Labour MP who defected from the Tories last year, and come on the back of a government-commissioned review of “civil and military relations”.

cadets
Brown backs army cadet corps plan for schools
08/04/2008 The Guardian

Controversial plans for pupils in comprehensive schools to sign up for military drills and weapons training are being backed by Gordon Brown in an attempt to improve the relationship between the public and the armed forces.

cadets
Britain's child army
07/02/2007 New Statesman

“Stricken by Iraq and low morale, the British army is on a desperate recruitment drive. Its new targets? Poorly educated teenagers and young schoolchildren.” This article looks at new recruitment techniques such as the Camoflage scheme, which includes a magazine and website designed for those as young as 13, MoD school presentation teams and various forms of ‘outreach’. “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, 'That looks great.' From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip."

recruitment age
The BBC: Poppies and presenters
10/11/2006 BBC

An editor at the BBC explains how they have no policy that presenters have to wear a poppy but that they do give 'guidance' on wearing them,

military in society, remembrance
At least 1,000 UK soldiers desert
28/05/2006 BBC

More than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted since the start of the Iraq war, the BBC has learned.

absense without leave, conscientious objection