Comment, analysis, news

More than 17,000 episodes of troops going Awol since 2003

British soldiers have gone on the run from their posts on more than 17,000 occasions since the start of the Iraq war, The Independent can reveal.

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At least 1,000 UK soldiers desert

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

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Fox urged to uphold conscientious objection in Armed Forces Bill

Defence Secretary Liam Fox is being urged to uphold the right of armed forces personnel to be given a discharge if they develop a conscientious objection.

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Parliament urged to end UK’s recruitment of ‘child soldiers’

Children and young people's rights groups are calling for a change in the law to end the recruitment of 16 and 17-year-olds into the UK armed forces.

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Cadet school

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”.

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Poppy Appeal is a political tool to support current wars

The true meaning of the poppy is being forgotten as it becomes a political tool to support current wars, a former elite soldier has claimed. Ben Griffin, the first SAS soldier to refuse to go into combat, also said the use of the word "hero" to describe soldiers glorified war and was an "attempt to stifle criticism" of conflicts the UK is currently fighting.

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Poppy appeal’s original aims being subverted, veterans complain

A group of veterans from conflicts including the Falklands and Northern Ireland have complained of the increasing glitz and glamour of the annual poppy appeal and of it being hijacked to marshall public support behind current campaigns.

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Britain’s child army

“Stricken by Iraq and low morale, the British army is on a desperate recruitment drive. Its new targets? Poorly educated teenagers and young schoolchildren.”

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Watching, and challenging, the armed forces

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.”

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