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Disaster militarism

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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.

For some time now, Up in Arms has been drawing attention to the process of militarisation taking place in the UK. This has meant tracking the changing profile of the armed forces in civil society, ears pricked for anything that suggests that military norms and values are inherently superior and therefore worthy of unquestioning support. It can be hard to distinguish the long term shifts from the immediate gear changes, and to know how seriously to take some of the ‘information’ that makes it into the public domain – particularly if it emanates from unnamed ‘senior’ officials in defence departments or cranky media pundits with an interest in military welfare.

Take the use of soldiers in Britain’s recent flood disasters. Following their successful deployment as security guards for the London Olympics, the MoD could be more confident that the public would accept their role as a reserve body of odd-job men who by their physical strength and numbers alone could be put to work in a civil emergency.… Read more

Gove’s Troops To Teachers ‘A Costly Flop’

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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.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal 322 former soldiers applied for teacher training between March 2011 and April 2013

Despite just 132 being accepted, Mr Gove has now thrown £10 million in public funds at a new two-year Troops to Teachers scheme.

If the latest scheme enlists the same low numbers, the maximum cost of getting each new recruit ready for the classroom could be a stunning £75,000.

A Department for Education spokeswoman insisted yesterday that the £10 million is the maximum available for the programme over the next two years.

But National Union of Teachers North England regional secretary Mike McDonald is among campaigners to have raised concerns over Mr Gove’s latest “vanity project.”

He told the Star: “He’s very austere when it comes to things like teachers’ pay, pensions and conditions but when it comes to his pet projects such as this, free schools and academies it seems money is no object.

“It’s just one waste after another.

“I’m not against the training of troops to be teachers but to spend this amount of money on it and for it to yield such a poor result is quite appalling, particularly with all the cuts affecting public services.”… Read more

Military-style discipline to raise standards in state schools

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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

Military-style discipline will be introduced into state schools under sweeping government plans to train more ex-soldiers as teachers and dramatically increase the number of cadet forces, it has emerged.

The Government is investing at least £19 million on programmes designed to develop an Armed Forces “ethos” in the state education system.

For the first time this month, former servicemen without university degrees will be able to take part in a new training programme designed to fast-track them into the classroom in around half the time taken by most other teachers.

Ex-military personnel will be be able to gain full teaching qualifications within just two years as part of the Troops to Teachers course. Most teachers take at least four years.

The Coalition suggested that evidence showed former soldiers made better teachers than those recruited through conventional routes.

In further changes, the Government also pledged to create an extra 100 cadet force units in state schools within the next 12 months – boosting overall numbers by around a third.

The move has been condemned by teachers’ leaders who claimed that the recruitment of soldiers without degrees risks undermining the profession.… Read more

Multicultural Britain rejecting foreign conflict, MoD admits

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Repeat of Afghanistan-or-Iraq-style invasion ruled out for war-weary UK, according to senior officials

A growing reluctance in an increasingly multicultural Britain to see UK troops deployed on the ground in future operations abroad is influencing the next two strategic defence reviews, according to senior figures at the Ministry of Defence.

As well as a general feeling of war weariness, sources say they have sensed a resistance in an increasingly diverse nation to see British troops deployed in countries from which UK citizens, or their families, once came.

There is also concern that British troops have been seen taking action mainly in Muslim societies.

The MoD is still taking stock of the surprise decision of the House of Commons last summer to reject military intervention to punish President Assad of Syria for the use of chemical weapons against rebel forces.

Senior figures believe the rejection of that action was not just the by-product of a political battle between Labour and the government, but revealed deeper-seated long-term trends in British society.

One of the issues raised is improving the recruitment of British officers from minority ethnic communities.

Sources stress that they do not believe that a change in attitudes rules out overseas British intervention, but more will have to be planned on the basis of air and naval activity, rather than large-scale use of troops on the ground.… Read more

Army helps jobseekers towards employment

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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.

Run in partnership with Jobcentre Plus (JCP), Jobs Enterprise Training (JET) and Stoke College, it is the brainchild of Community Engagement Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Ray Miller.

As well as boosting the skills and confidence of unemployed people aged 18 to 30 in the Stoke-on-Trent area, an exciting and intensive 4-week course also aims to promote awareness of the Army Reserve, what it has to offer potential employees and employers, and to improve working relationships with other agencies.

Weeks 1 and 2 will involve participants attending Army Reserve units in local areas and learning workplace-recognised skills in a military environment.

This will involve team-building and motivation, health and safety and plant/power tools safe operation, and workplace first aid.… Read more

Fighting the ‘Battle of the Narrative’: Communicating Army 2020

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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.

Although it has been three years since the political decisions about future British defence capabilities were first formally articulated, debate rages on as the implications continue to be scrutinised beneath media and parliamentary spotlights. For the army in particular, discussion surrounding the wholesale transformation of its force structure – as prompted by the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and subsequent spending reviews – has been compounded by the emotional fall-out inherent to job cuts, the loss of regiments and changes to the Regular-Reserve balance. And with the 2015 SDSR looming, and the possibility of further cuts,[1] there seems to be little sign that the furore is waning.

From the army’s perspective, however, the time for debating the merits of change is long gone. Indeed, implementation of the measures set out last year in Army 2020 and Future Reserves 2020 is already well underway.

Smaller budgets, the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, and an assessment of the likely nature of future military engagements – not to mention the return of soldiers from Germany and the consolidation of UK-based troops into ‘super garrisons’ – has served to inform the shape and structure of the army after 2014.… Read more

‘We need more wars’: Head of controversial private outsourcing firm blames lack of conflict for spectacular collapse in Army recruitment since it took charge

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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.

The number of people attending army interviews and selection tests to be regular soldiers has fallen by 35 per cent since Capita took charge of hiring new recruits from the Ministry of Defence in March.

But when asked to explain its failure to maintain manpower levels Capita’s chief executive suggested it was partly down to potential new recruits having too little to do.

“We have the disadvantage that we actually have no wars on,” Paul Pindar told the Public Accounts Committee.

“Soldiers like to join the Army when they actually have something to do.” When MPs expressed surprise at the statement he added: “You can pull faces at me but actually it is something that is factually true.”

Mr Pindar said that recruitment had also been hit by the general improved economic situation in Britain and the failures of a new IT system that his company had been told would be up and running when it took over the contract.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the committee, described his comments on war as “awful”.… Read more

Expand cadet force to encourage youngsters to join forces, defence minister suggests

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Britain’s cadet force could be expanded to encourage more youngsters to join the Armed Forces, a defence minister has suggested.

Lord Astor of Hever indicated that the Government would support spending more money on the cadet forces amid growing controversy over the Coalition’s plan to increase the number of reservists in the military.

He made the comments in response to a question by Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, who said that ministers should be “growing” the cadet forces because statistics show that 30 per cent of the youngsters go on to be Non-commissioned officers in the Armed Forces.

It came in a debate in the House of Lords about the Coalition’s controversial plans to replace regular soldiers with part-time reservists.

Ministers are hoping to use reserve forces to make up for around 30,000 full-time personnel being lost to defence cuts.

By 2018, the Coalition needs 30,000 fully trained Army reservists, 3,100 for the Navy and 1,800 for the RAF, a total of 34,900.

However, some defence chiefs fear the reserves cannot be expanded so quickly. Official statistics from the Ministry of Defence show the Future Reserve 2020 volunteer reserve now stands at 21,870, down from a year ago.… Read more

Welsh bishops urge army to raise enlistment age to 18

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The Ministry of Defence has come under pressure from the Church in Wales and campaign group Child Soldiers International which is calling for an end to recruitment of under-18s to the Army

All the bishops from the Church in Wales – including Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan – are among a number of co-signatories to an open letter from the campaign group Child Soldiers International calling for an end to recruitment of under-18s to the Army.

Other signatories include the Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, convenor of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, and peace groups run by Christians including Baptists, Methodists, Roman Catholics and Quakers.

The MoD enlists soldiers at 16 and deploys from the age of 18, but still refuses to implement a total ban on deployment of under-18s, the letter, addressed to defence minister Mark Francois said.

“We commend the MoD for having ceased routinely deploying children into conflict, but challenge its failure to stop recruiting them,” the letter said.

“Current recruitment policy channels the youngest most disadvantaged recruits into the most dangerous frontline combat roles.

“Those recruited at 16 have faced double the risk of fatality of adult recruits throughout the conflict in Afghanistan.”… Read more

Bishops attack army on recruitment of minor while teen enlistment figures plummet

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  • Recruitment of 16-year-olds down 40% on previous year
  • Former Armed Forces minister says “Time is right” to review recruitment age

The Church of Scotland and the Bishops of the Church in Wales are among the signatories of an open letter to the Ministry of Defence this week calling for an end to the recruitment of under-18s. The signatories, which also include the Unitarian Church, Quakers in Britain, Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist groups, call on the MoD to raise the recruitment age as a “fitting memorial” to the thousands of young soldiers killed in World War One.

The letter has been made public on the same day that Child Soldiers International released new analysis of MoD figures which demonstrates plummeting enlistment levels among 16-year-olds and rising drop-out rates from training. The research finds that:

  • Last year just 880 16-year-olds enlisted in the Army, 40% fewer than the year before (1,470) and just a quarter of the number enlisted a decade earlier (3,600).
  • The dramatic fall in intake has been matched by rising drop-out rates. Of all the 16-year-olds recruited by the Army last year, figures just released show that nearly half (410) left during training.
  • The number of 17-year-olds has also fallen steadily, with about a third as many joining the forces last year (1,550) as were enlisted a decade earlier (5,035).
… Read more