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Cadet forces to be expanded in state schools

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Military ‘spirit’ is to be encouraged in classrooms with the expansion of cadet forces in state schools.

Michael Gove, the education secretary, wants to see more after-school uniform parades to instil the “spirit of service” in the next generation.

On Monday he will announce further measures to increase the influence of the armed forces in the classroom.

Schools in England and Wales are already preparing for the ‘Troops to Teachers’ programme that will see former ex-service personnel offered free training courses to take up a second career in teaching.… Read more

Armed Forces personnel to go into schools, Conservatives pledge

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Service men and women will go into schools to mentor young tearaways, while troops will receive free teacher training and university tuition, the Conservatives will pledge. 

Service men and women will go into schools to mentor young tearaways, while troops will receive free teacher training and university tuition, the Conservatives will pledge. … Read more

One in 10 Army recruits ‘bullied and intimidated’

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A decade after Deepcut, MoD reports reveal failure to tackle problem affecting hundreds of trainees.

Hundreds of young army recruits are still suffering from physical beatings and intimidation at the hands of their instructors, despite a series of fatalities at training camps in recent years and amid allegations that soldiers were being bullied to death.

A series of previously unpublicised reports obtained by this newspaper highlight growing concern surrounding the issue this weekend. They include a new annual survey of recruits by the Ministry of Defence that reveals that hundreds report having been beaten or intimidated by their superiors. More than one in 10 of all trainee soldiers – what the report describes as a “notable minority” – claimed to have been unfairly or badly treated and, of these, more than one in five said they had been picked on continually.

According to the report, made available to MPs just over a week ago, less than three-quarters of recruits felt that training was always conducted without sexual or racial harassment. And nearly a quarter did not feel able to take their concerns to a person in authority.

Another, unpublished, report obtained this weekend sheds light on the extent of abuse being suffered by service personnel.… Read more

Conscience and the military

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Armed forces chaplains play a crucial role in providing pastoral support to people who face danger and death on a daily basis. But chaplains’ independence is compromised by the fact that they are members of the forces themselves.

A retired army chaplain told me a story he knew about a wounded soldier in the Korean War. The soldier was told he had less than two hours to live, and someone sent for the nearest chaplain, a Baptist.

The chaplain talked with the wounded man about families and football, but the man said desperately, “Talk to me, padre, talk to me”. The chaplain continued to chat, before the soldier again said, “Talk to me, padre, talk to me”. Somewhat confused, the chaplain asked the soldier want he wanted to talk about. The man shouted “I’m dying, you bloody fool! You’re supposed to talk to me about God!”.

The anecdote illustrates one of the peculiarities of miltiary chaplaincy. Unlike most ministers, armed forces chaplains often serve people who face the danger of death on a daily basis, in a way unimaginable to most of us. Pastoral care is vital for members of the armed forces.

While admiring chaplains’ bravery and dedication, this should not stop us recognising the problems with the way military chaplaincy is structured.… Read more

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

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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.

As resources for the armed forces remain stretched to cope with Britain’s commitments in Afghanistan, official figures from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that there were more than 2,000 cases of soldiers going absent without leave (awol) last year, with 17,470 incidents recorded since the Iraq invasion in 2003.

The internal Government statistics, released to The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 375 soldiers remained at large at the end of last year, although MoD sources insisted that the figure has since fallen. Army officials are battling hard to tackle the problem that has persisted throughout Britain’s gruelling operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.… Read more

Should the armed forces recruit 16-year-olds?

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Rachel Taylor, from the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, argues that it is time for British armed forces to join the rest of NATO and stop recruiting people as young as 16.

Until ten years ago it was standard practice for the UK to deploy under-18s into hostilities. They were on the frontline in the Balkans, the Gulf and the Falklands. However, since the coming into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict in 2002 (ratified by the UK in 2003) the routine deployment of under-18s has been prohibited in international law. The UK, like other states parties to the treaty, now takes measures to prevent the deployment of under-18s. Deployment of under-18s now appears archaic and abhorrent to the public and policy makers alike.… Read more

The Armed Forces: time for change

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The present recruitment age of sixteen is too young to enter full time military training. If you are not old enough to vote, buy a pint in a pub, to ride a motorbike or even to buy fireworks are you not also too young to join the army?

The punch of the automatic weapon into my shoulder was simultaneous with a shrill whistle of bullets, breaking the silence. It is the only time I have fired an automatic weapon with live ammunition. I was fifteen, a member of Blundell’s School, Combined Cadet Force, training at Lympstone Commando Centre in Devon. I felt much older than my years. We aimed at concentric circles on the bodies of black and white human shapes in front of a bank of sandbags. The bullets disappeared into them. I felt both a loss of innocence and an uncomfortable sense of physical power. It still informs my thoughts about under-eighteen-year-olds in the army today.

The present recruitment age of sixteen is too young to enter full time military training. If you are not old enough to vote, buy a pint in a pub, to ride a motorbike or even to buy fireworks are you not also too young to join the army?… Read more

At least 1,000 UK soldiers desert

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

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

Figures for those still missing are 86 from 2001, 118 from 2002, 134 from 2003, 229 from 2004, 377 from 2005, and 189 for this year so far.

The news comes as Parliament debates a law that will forbid military personnel from refusing to participate in the occupation of a foreign country.… Read more

British conscientious objector refused recognition

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Michael Lyons, a medical worker in the British navy, was denied recognition as conscientious objector on 17 December 2010 as the Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objection met for the first time in 14 years.

Michael Lyons, a medical worker in the British navy, was denied recognition as conscientious objector on 17 December 2010. Michael Lyons joined up in 2005, aged 18. Since then he has stopped to think more about his work, partly prompted by researching information about the war in Afghanistan after being told some months ago that he would be deployed there in 2011. He applied for conscientious objection after reading of the “enormous under-reporting of civilian casualties in the conflict I was about to enter“, according to the Buxton Advisor. However, his application for CO status, a few months ago, submitted via his commanding officer, was turned down. Thanks to information from the military counselling group At Ease, he found that he had a right to appeal against this decision to an Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors (ACCO) – an official body outside the Ministry of Defence which was last convened in 1996.… Read more

Fox urged to uphold conscientious objection in Armed Forces Bill

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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.

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.

The call comes as Fox presents the Armed Forces Bill to the House of Commons today. Forces Watch, a network concerned with ethical issues around the armed forces, says that the Bill is an opportunity for politicians to demonstrate their commitment to the human rights of forces personnel.

They add that the process of declaring a conscientious objection must be brought “out of obscurity”.

In theory, the law grants troops the right to apply for discharge if they develop a conscientious objection. But Forces Watch pointed to evidence that many personnel are unaware of this right and that the procedures for applying for it are unclear and poorly publicised.

The issue came to the fore last month, when Michael Lyons, a medical worker in the navy found that he could no longer participate in the war in Afghanistan after becoming aware of what was happening there.

His application for conscientious objection was turned down and he only discovered he had the right to appeal by consulting At Ease, an organisation which advises serving personnel.… Read more