Month: June 2018

Warrior Nation – how the power of the military challenges British democracy

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The report – Warrior Nation: war, militarisation and British democracy by Professor Paul Dixon and published by ForcesWatch – examines the relationship between recent conflicts and the wider power of the military in society and over UK politicians. (3)

The report is published in the run up to Armed Forces Day (30 June) when hundreds of events will take place around the country.

Armed Forces Day was established in 2009 as part of the ‘militarisation offensive’ as one of many initiatives to seek to make the armed forces more visible in civil society and to generate public support for them, and the conflicts they are engaged in.

Other militarisation initiatives have included promotion of the ‘military ethos’ in schools, including the Cadet Expansion Programme, and the Armed Forces Community and Corporate Covenants with aim to generate support for both armed forces personnel and military institutions.

The report argues that the idea of the Armed Forces Covenant – a moral contract between British society and the military – was ‘invented’ in order to progress it into legislation and promote military interests in wider society.

It includes an analysis of how the military actively pushed for escalation of Britain’s involvement in the wars in Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan from 2006 but then deflected responsibility for their failures onto politicians.… Read more

My thoughts exactly: UK army accused of dictating soldiers’ press statements

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Child Soldiers International, a charity that campaigns against the recruitment of under-18s to the armed forces, noticed that graduates of the Army Foundation College (AFC) had spoken of their sense of achievement in exactly the same upbeat terms in dozens of newspaper reports.

“Graduating from AFC Harrogate in front of my friends and family is something that I am very proud of doing. I’m now looking forward to the next stage of my army career,” a number of young men and women were quoted as saying.

“As a junior soldier you learn core life skills such as leadership, teamwork and determination. I have made loads of friends and met new people, and have become much more confident in my own ability.”

Precisely the same quotes have been used in local newspaper articles about graduates across the UK from the south of England to Scotland since 2015.

Tactics for the recruitment of teenage soldiers is a sensitive issue. The Guardian revealed last year that the army had been specifically targeting young people from working-class backgrounds in a glossy television campaign.

Rachel Taylor, the director of programmes at Child Soldiers International, said: “It has always been evident that army recruitment campaigns portray an unrealistic and highly edited version of military life.… Read more

UK military school audit reveals teenage recruits at risk

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Concerns over the safety and welfare of 16- and 17-year-old soldiers have emerged in an internal audit that flagged up a string of issues relating to staff, the standard of education and living conditions, the Guardian can reveal.

The audit found that a drive to fast-track late joiners at the Army Foundation College (AFC), which trains and educates teenage recruits, had led to significant issues including skewing staff/student ratios in risk-to-life activities such as weapons training. It also found some staff had not received criminal record clearance before arriving at the college.

The audit concluded that able teenagers were not being challenged in lessons at the college in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and some recruits were unhappy about their accommodation and food.

AFC Harrogate hit the headlines in March when it emerged that 28 recruits aged 16 and 17 had claimed they were assaulted and abused by instructors during a battle camp in the summer of 2014. The case against the instructors collapsed after concerns over how the investigation had been handled.

The audit took place in 2015 and has come to light now because of a parliamentary question put by Liz Saville Roberts, the leader of Plaid Cymru at Westminster, who said it raised concerns about the policy of the armed forces recruiting minors.… Read more

British army ads targeting ‘stressed and vulnerable’ teenagers

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Paid-for Facebook messages suggested to 16-year-olds that a career in the army would still be open to them if they did not get the grades they hoped for.

Campaigners against the recruitment of child soldiers accused the army of cynically trying to recruit young people at a time when they are worried about their results and future prospects.

Rachel Taylor, the director of programmes at Child Soldiers International, said: “Targeting army advertisements at teenagers when they are stressed and vulnerable is abhorrent. These adverts prove once again that the MoD is deliberately targeting children at the lowest limit of the legal recruitment age to fill the lowest qualified, least popular and hardest-to-recruit army roles.

“Using Facebook to target the country’s young people unwittingly and exploiting the anxiety of those who may be disappointed with their GCSE results with idealised and unrealistic advertisements is shameful.”

The Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “The government’s recruitment ads on social media tell young people that exam results don’t matter. If they truly have potential army recruits’ best interests at heart, they should prioritise their education budget over the army’s social media budget.”

There has been growing concern about some of the army’s tactics for drawing in new recruits.… Read more

News coverage of the Scottish Parliament’s report on armed forces visits to schools

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The Scotsman: Scottish Government urged to ensure army school visits are ‘appropriate’

The Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee said the government should carry out a nationwide study of the impact of school visits by the armed forces. MSPs have also demanded more data on the number of visits in Scotland each year, calling on the Ministry of Defence to make clear exactly which schools it attends, and how often. The Scottish Government today said troops speaking to pupils in school must “not seek to exert undue or inappropriate influence”.

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-urged-to-ensure-army-school-visits-are-appropriate-1-4749049

Scottish Government urged to ensure army school visits are ‘appropriate’

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-urged-to-ensure-army-school-visits-are-appropriate-1-4749049

Scottish Government urged to ensure army school visits are ‘appropriate’

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-urged-to-ensure-army-school-visits-are-appropriate-1-4749049

Scottish Government urged to ensure army school visits are ‘appropriate’

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-urged-to-ensure-army-school-visits-are-appropriate-1-4749049

The Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee said the government should carry out a nationwide study of the impact of school visits by the armed forces.

MSPs have also demanded more data on the number of visits in Scotland each year, calling on the Ministry of Defence to make clear exactly which schools it attends, and how often.

The Scottish Government today said troops speaking to pupils in school must “not seek to exert undue or inappropriate influence”.… Read more

Scottish Parliament recognises child rights and welfare concerns around armed forces activities in schools

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After two years of deliberation of the petition calling for greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation around armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, MSPs have published a report this morning.(2)

Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee have made a number of recommendations that recognise concerns of the petitioners and supporters of the petition, including child rights organisations.(3)

These include commissioning a Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment around appropriateness of content and balance, both within presentations made by the armed forces and within the wider curriculum. They indicated that the CRWIA should consider the the issue of consultation with parents.

The Committee also recommended that careers information provided to young people should reflect the challenges and risks involved in an armed forces career, so that they are fully informed.

In a bid to enable better scrutiny of the activities, the Committee recommended that data about the visits should be made publicly available by the Ministry of Defence.

The MoD and the armed forces gave oral evidence to the Committee in which they stated that their engagement with young people in schools had ‘matured’ since 2014.(4)  The petitioners contested this and a number of points made in the evidence and requested further information. (5)

New data published in 2017 shows a continuing high level of visits to schools, with some schools visited repeatedly, and most visits for careers purposes.(6)… Read more