Quaker report opposes increasing militarisation
27/06/2014
“The stirring music, smart uniforms and synchronised marching that characterise Armed Forces Day are a glossy front behind which sits a deliberate strategy to manipulate the public,”
Ekklesia
£1m for school cadets
27/06/2014The Telegraph
Bursary scheme will allocate money paid in fines by British banks caught up in the Libor rate-fixing scandal to state schools to help them offer thousands more children the chance to join military cadet forces.
Army training scheme for long-term unemployed may be extended
26/06/2014
Scheme piloted in Telford and Stoke can raise awareness of army reserve and make people more employable, says officer
The Guardian
Young people criticise military activities in schools as government announces more funding for cadets
23/06/2014
A week after the government pledged a further £1 million for more cadet forces in state secondary schools, a new film is launched which shows that many young people are critical of the promotion of military activities in their schools.
ForcesWatch press release
The British Army frontline: women and children first
03/06/2014
Child Soldiers International: We now face the prospect of 16 year old girls joining the army in combat roles.
Open Democracy
Your country needs your children – MoD targets teens to fix recruitment crisis
27/05/2014
Amid ongoing controversy around the MoD’s struggling recruitment campaigns for the armed forces, figures published this week reveal that the Army has resorted to increasing numbers of 16-year-olds in an attempt to fix the recruitment shortfall.
Child Soldiers International press release
UK under fire for recruiting an ‘army of children’
27/05/2014
MoD finds itself in the company of countries such as North Korea over use of teenage soldiers
The Independent
Questioning military academies and free schools
20/05/2014
This article explains what we mean by 'military academies' and 'military free schools', and explores the concerns that they raise: the lack of evidence that they will raise attainment; that they can employ unqualified teachers; their limited accountability to the local community; the fact that they can set their own curriculum. Crucially, there are various agendas behind military academies and free schools, including providing employment for the growing number of veterans, and encouraging pupils to join the armed forces after they leave school. There is also unease about what military-style discipline would look like in a school environment.
ForcesWatch Comment
British armed forces suffer record levels of alcohol abuse
13/05/2014
More than 1,600 service personnel required medical treatment in the past year
The Guardian
Drone Wars: Pilots reveal debilitating stress beyond virtual battlefield
13/05/2014
"To extinguish a person's life is a very personal thing. While physically we don't experience the five senses when we engage a target — unlike [how] an infantryman might — in my experience, the emotional impact on the operator is equal."
livescience.com