story-type: ForcesWatch comment

Questioning military academies and free schools

This article was originally published on the Anti Academies Alliance website

This article explains what we mean by  ‘military academies’ and ‘military free schools’, and explores the concerns that they raise: the lack of evidence that they will raise attainment; that they can employ unqualified teachers; their limited accountability to the local community; the fact that they can set their own curriculum. Crucially, there are various agendas behind military academies and free schools, including providing employment for the growing number of veterans, and encouraging pupils to join the armed forces after they leave school. There is also unease about what military-style discipline would look like in a school environment.

The terms ‘Military Academies’ and ‘Military Free Schools’ have been bandied about since at least January 2012, but there is a lack of clarity as to what they actually mean. This article explains what military academies / free schools are (as well as what they could be), and explores the concerns that they raise: the lack of evidence that they will raise attainment; that they can employ unqualified teachers; their limited accountability to the local community (both during and after the consultation process); and the fact that they can set their own curriculum.… Read more

Defence Committee report challenges the MoD (again) to produce a ‘robust and thorough’ review of under 18 recruitment

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 (read Defence Committee press release), 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”.

ForcesWatch, Child Soldiers International and the Peace Pledge Union all submitted evidence detailing the arguments for raising the age of recruitment to 18 in line with international standards. The UK is the only country in the EU to still recruit at 16 years. You can read the submissions here.

The Defence Committee report highlights our arguments that raising the age of recruitment will:

  • save approximately £94 million per year on training and recruitment
  • increase operational effectiveness, including improving the ratio of deployable personnel
  • have a positive effect on recruits’ education and long-term career prospects
  • reduce incidence of mental health problems amongst soldiers and veterans
  • ensure “the best interests of the child” are prioritised, in line with international legal obligations

Our recent research has shown that those who enlist below this age are at higher risk of injury in training, suicide, bullying, sexual harassment, mental illness, alcoholism, long-term unemployment, and violent offending than recruits who enlist as adults. 

… Read more

Militarisation in everyday life in the UK: a conference report

Many areas of society in the UK have seen a growing involvement and/or visibility of the military and military approaches in recent years – from schools, to local communities, to ‘militainment’ (military-themed films, TV programmes, video games etc).

This process of privileging and prioritising the military is often referred to as ‘militarisation’; Cynthia Enloe, one of the foremost thinkers on the subject, states that “To become militarised is to adopt militaristic values and priorities as one’s own, to see military solutions as particularly effective, to see the world as a dangerous place best approached with militaristic attitudes.”

In response to the recent developments in the UK, there has been an increase in critical academic studies, media coverage, and work by campaigning organisations and others on these issues. On 19 October 2013, around 70 academics, activists, campaigners, and writers came together in London at the Militarisation in Everyday Life in the UK conference organised by ForcesWatch.

The main aim of the day was to allow academics and activists to share their work and ideas, through a series of plenary presentations and group discussions, and to develop ideas on how to raise public debate and encourage critical thinking on the issues.

In the introductory plenary, the conflict transformation consultant and writer Diana Francis pointed out that war – organised lethal violence on a mass scale – is a relatively recent development in human history, asserting that we can un-learn militarism, which is closely linked to dominating structures such as patriarchy.… Read more

Why are education projects run by ex-services being prioritised?

On 15 November 2013, the Department for Education announced “£4.8 million to projects led by ex-armed forces personnel to tackle underachievement by disengaged pupils“.

ForcesWatch has a number of concerns about the military-led ‘alternative provision’ being developed in schools: who benefits? the armed forces certainly will; military-led ‘alternative provision’ targets young people seen to be ‘failing’ – precisely those who need more options and, if channelled into the forces, are most at risk in warfare; the policy is based on limited evidence and ideological assumptions; will there be space for ethical issues around conflict to be addressed?

The projects that have received extra funding are for pupils who are ‘disengaged/at risk of becoming disengaged’, and are one of a number of schemes in the Department for Education’s Military Ethos in Schools in England programme. Other schemes include fast-tracking ex-forces (including non-graduates) into the teaching profession under the Troops to Teachers programme, the expansion of the Combined Cadet Force units in state schools, and the encouragement of the development of military academies and free schools sponsored by part of the military.

Who benefits?

One of the background documents used to develop the ‘military ethos’ policy identifies three main benefits of introducing more military-led provision in schools: ex-forces would benefit from more employment opportunities, the reserve forces would benefit from more recruits and young people would benefit as the provision would ‘generate hope and purpose’ and keep them out of trouble.… Read more

Raising the age of recruitment: an open letter and a cautious welcome of the MoD review

ForcesWatch are among 24 signatories of an open letter to Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for the Armed Forces which calls for an end to the recruitment of under-18s. The signatories include the Church of Scotland, the Church in Wales, the Unitarian Church and Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and Quaker groups and Child Soldiers International. The letter notes that as the centenary of the outbreak of World War One approaches, the recruitment and deployment age of British soldiers is lower now than it was a century ago. The signatories call on the Ministry to raise the recruitment age to 18 as a “fitting memorial” to the thousands of young soldiers killed in World War One.

ForcesWatch welcomes the statement by the Government that it “agrees that the Armed Forces should undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the recruitment of U18s and work has been set in hand with the Army to look at this.” This review was announced in the Government’s response to the Defence committee report The Armed Forces Covenant in Action? Part 4: Education of Service Personnel, published on 23 October 2013. The Defence Select Committee had asked the Department why the Army was “so dependent on recruiting personnel under the age of 18 years compared with the other two Services”.… Read more

The Poppy

A version of this article was published by The Friend, 7 November 2013

When I was about seven, my dad took me to the local Remembrance Day memorial. Neatly turned-out elderly men were stood in equally neat rows while The Last Post was played. I wondered why everyone looked so sad. Dad said it was because their friends had been killed in the war; this day was to remember them. I wore a poppy then and I am glad that I did.

This week, other elderly men are standing in railway stations holding out boxes of poppies for passers-by. The poppy still means something to them and because of that, it matters to me as well, but its deeper significance of lament, remembrance, and the commitment called ‘never again’, is being lost. I think it is being killed off.

The nation’s official custodian of remembrance is the British Legion, which is now a very large, corporate-style charity. The poppy appeal is its main source of income. This year, girl band The Saturdays launched the appeal at a glitzy concert with their song Notorious: ‘I’ve been a bad girl / I’m a bad girl / I’m notorious’. A cloud of poppies fell from the ceiling while the crowd cheered.… Read more

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.

The study of almost 14,000 servicemen who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan looked at the link between their criminal records and military service. It found that 20% of young males under 30 had a conviction for violent offences compared to 6.7% in the general population. The incidence decreases for older age groups and for higher ranks. Those who had taken part in combat were more than 50% more likely to be involved in post-service violent episodes. The incidence increased with multiple combat occurrences and most significantly, violent behaviour prior to signing up. Alcohol misuse, PTSD and high levels of self-reported aggressive behaviour are all strong indicators of post-service violence.

“Our study, which used official criminal records, found that violent offending was most common among young men from the lower ranks of the Army and was strongly associated with a history of violent offending before joining the military.… Read more

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.

[T]he Armed Forces as a whole never visit schools for recruitment purposes and would only ever visit a school after being invited by a teacher to support school activities.
Response to FOI (accessed 05/02/2013)

This statement reflects the standard response by the Armed Forces to the work undertaken by ForcesWatch challenging whether the presence of the military is appropriate within the education system. Having met with this response in private communication, panel discussions and media outlets, ForcesWatch decided to lodge a complaint with the MoD. We believe these statements are, at best, a misrepresentation of military-led activities in schools; and at worst, a deliberate attempt to mislead the public over these activities. All the statements contain the same two claims that, firstly, that they do not visit for recruitment purposes; secondly, that they visit only upon invitation from a member of staff.… Read more

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). The Guardian’s analysis shows that this is partly because US deaths in military action went down during 2012 but also partly because the suicide rate has risen.

If suicides in the other services (Navy 60, Marines 48, Air Force 59) are added, the totals become 349 and 295 respectively.

Army vice chief of staff General Lloyd J. Austin III said in August 2012 that, “Suicide is the toughest enemy I have faced in my 37 years in the Army”.

Yet the number of US military veterans who killed themselves 2012 is 6,500 – ‘roughly equivalent to one every 80 minutes’. The reasons are complex with multiple deployments becoming evident as a factor. The Guardian quotes that, “William Nash, a retired Navy psychiatrist…. and colleagues in military psychiatry have developed the concept of ‘moral injury’ to help understand the current wave of self-harm. He defines that as ‘damage to your deeply held beliefs about right and wrong. It might be caused by something that you do or fail to do, or by something that is done to you – but either way it breaks that sense of moral certainty.’… Read more

The suffering of veterans

A play about and starring injured veterans, and recent government data and policies, highlights their suffering.

A DVD of the first performance of The Two Worlds of Charlie F, a remarkable play about the experience of UK military personnel injured (mostly) in Afghanistan (mentioned here), was released recently. It stars the veterans whose stories that the script, written by Owen Shears, was based on. Directed by Stephen Rayne, the company – Bravo 22 – first performed The Two Worlds of Charlie F at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in January 2012. It then went on tour, showing in Birmingham, Cardiff, and Edinburgh (where it won Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award), before returning to London to finish in September. The play was initiated by the Haymarket’s charity Masterclass, and received funding from The British Legion. Visiting Personnel Recovery Units and rehabilitation centres, Shears and Rayne learnt that 22% of UK combatants in Afghanistan have been injured. The majority of the cast are injured veterans, and all but one were still serving as of January 2012. None of them had ever acted before, although the protagonist, ‘Charlie’, a Canadian Royal Marine, had studied dance at university in the US. They are mostly men.… Read more