Comment, analysis, news

Millions ‘wasted’ on junior army recruits, report claims

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.

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Army recruitment of under-18s wastes £94 million every year, claims new report

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

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Nuclear Weapons and Militarisation in the UK

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.

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The inescapable psychological cost of conflict

A study published in the Lancet called Violent offending by UK military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan has found that men in the UK armed forces are more likely to have been convicted of violent offences than their civilian peers. The study shows a strong link with age – that fighting and being traumatised by it tends to make those in younger age groups more likely to be violent afterwards.

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Unpacking ‘recruitment’: what does the MoD mean when it says the armed forces do not run recruitment activities in schools?

Our education campaigner looks at the MoD's assertion that the armed forces do not go into schools for recruitment purposes. This is based on a definition of 'recruitment' that limits it to 'signing up' there and then. We argue that the armed forces are indeed recruiting in schools and that 'recruitment' is a broader activity that involves interesting young people in the idea of enlisting by engaging in the range of activities from careers talks to visits to bases.

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US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans

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

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Fifty troops commit suicide after Iraq and Afghanistan tours

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

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Recently… on ‘moral injury’ and armed forces suicides in the US and UK

2012 was the the first year 'in at least a generation' in which a greater number of currently-serving US Army soldiers killed themselves (177) than were killed in active duty (176).

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Charities pairing ex-military staff with disadvantaged pupils get £1.9m

Extra education cash for charities is part of Michael Gove's ambition to boost military ethos in schoolchildren

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When soldiering gets sexy: the militarization of gender equality and sexual difference

How does militarism change social and cultural expectations of gender roles and relations? This is a huge question. This article by Vron Ware considers three areas.

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