Take arms firms out of the Big Bang Fair
28/03/2014
Letter signed by over 100, including ForcesWatch
The Guardian
Defence Committee report challenges the MoD (again) to produce a ‘robust and thorough’ review of under 18 recruitment
06/03/2014
The Defence Select Committee have today released their report of inquiry into the MoD's Future Army 2020 plan. Amid the concerns about the strategy of increasing the proportion of reservists in relation to regular forces, the report calls on the MoD “to respond in detail to the argument that the Army could phase out the recruitment of minors without detriment to the Army 2020 plans”. Read our submission to the inquiry here.
ForcesWatch comment
FUTURE ARMY 2020: Defence Committee increases pressure to MoD to raise enlistment age to 18
05/03/2014
The Defence Select Committee has increased the pressure on the MoD to stop enlisting minors, in a report published today.
Child Soldiers International press release
Disaster militarism
05/03/2014
The country’s military institutions must not be seen as deserving of special consideration. Once the ethos of public service has been smashed and discredited by neoliberal restructuring, the danger is that it will take more than an army to bring it back. By Vron Ware.
Open Democracy
Gove’s Troops To Teachers ‘A Costly Flop’
04/03/2014
Michael Gove's scheme to train ex-squaddies as teachers was labelled an "expensive flop" yesterday after it was revealed the Tory Education Secretary mustered just 132 recruits.
Morning Star
Military-style discipline to raise standards in state schools
28/01/2014
The Telegraph
Former soldiers without degrees will be fast-tracked into teaching and more cadet force units will be established as part of a dramatic expansion of a “military-style” ethos in English state schools
Multicultural Britain rejecting foreign conflict, MoD admits
24/01/2014
Repeat of Afghanistan-or-Iraq-style invasion ruled out for war-weary UK, according to senior officials
Guardian
Army helps jobseekers towards employment
28/11/2013
Midlands SPEAR (Supporting People into Employment with the Army Reserve) is a pilot scheme created by 143 (West Midlands) Brigade which has caught the attention of government ministers and, if successful, could be rolled out across the UK.
Ministry of Defence
Fighting the ‘Battle of the Narrative’: Communicating Army 2020
28/11/2013
A recent course organised for influencers was designed to convey the British Army’s response to a changing strategic landscape. Despite redeployment from Afghanistan and Reserve reorganisation, this exercise emphasised that the British Army is still very much in the war-fighting business.
RUSI
‘We need more wars’: Head of controversial private outsourcing firm blames lack of conflict for spectacular collapse in Army recruitment since it took charge
28/11/2013
The head of a controversial private outsourcing firm accused of presiding over a collapse in Army recruitment has attempted to blame a lack of war for its failure to sign up new soldiers.
Independent