To think the army shouldn't be allowed to 'avertise' in schools?

I don't think we're leaping on. My brother sister and I made career choices at age 15 which have stood us in good stead. It's not a bad age to choose particularly if you need to pick A levels for whatever you're going to do at university.

Off-topic - but DominiConnor, your point about democracy doesn't really hold up in first-past-the-post electoral systems in which different votes effectively have different values. It is entirely possible to be a politically active citizen in the UK and not take any moral responsibility whatsoever for what the government does.

i am in real awe that peoplethink its ok to to the recruit to the army thing to 14 and 15 year olds.

i am not saying it is not a valid career choice. but it isn't presented in its full light.

15 years old - to those of youwith younger children - thats most i presume, then youthink "oh at 15 , i was shaggin half the street, pised up on cider, had an 'e' went to the hacienda"

and look back mini adult stylee.

when your kid gets to 15 and older and its not yourself yourlooking at ut your child. your outlook maychange

You mean imperialism ?
The British Army very rarely acts without political instructions. We are a democracy, and thus we are responsible for whatever acts you're unhappy with.
Must be said, that in nearly all armed actions abroad in the last 40 years, only the present Iraq one admits of the possibility that we were the bad guys, ambiguous even them
You could argue we should have hit the Serbs harder and sooner, or that our craven silence when France bullied New Zealand when bullied by France's nukes was deeply dishonourable. Not much we could have realistically done when the USA invaded Grenada. Taking out IRA bases in Eire and Boston was politically infeasible.

But all of these are sins of omission, TDWP what use of force didn't you approve of ?

The only fight I can think of where we were clearly in the wrong was the "Cod War". Which of course our nuclear armed navy lost to a bunch of courageous Icelanders armed with nothing more lethal than a harpoon.

The people of Britain have never voted to disband their armed forces. We never seem to have had even the mentality of the Swiss. The armed forces obey the orders they're given. It's the only way armies can work.

suebaroo - becuase SOOO many kids go into the army through informed choice? no choice, little choice maybe. failed my parents and an education system - its a sound good option.

i am not arguing against cadets, brownies guides sea scouts or any of the sort and made this view clear below.

I think the age of targetting / recruitment is a real issue. We are the only country in the EU (and one of the few developed countries in the world) to still have "child soldiers" who are defined under international law as anyone under 18 attached to an armed unit. Unicef has urged the UK to stop recruitment of people under 18, and also to stop targetting them as part of recruitment campaigns. I feel it is extremely cynical and against the spirit if not actually the letter of International law to recruit within schools.

And you would listen to man called Walter Lacquer ????

TDWP - you are classing members of our world-class armed services as terrorists

the army follows orders. if it questioned the government on its decisions we would fall into very dangerous territory.

its not as easy to say " erm am not goint to fight - i fdont like the whole guns bit"

becuase soldiers get housed. have debts to pay back to the army, may have a family and children to consider, a social circle -t eir whole life and ethos wound up in what is a relative small community.

i do seperate the armed forces from the politions.

the men and women in the armed forces die for the politions

If my son told me he wanted to join the local cadets, be it T.A. or A.T.C., I wouldn't have a problem with it, no. By the time he was old enough for it to be an option, he wouldn't be a wide-eyed innocent sucked in with the promise of quad-biking and a really natty uniform.

Army recruitment is no more deceptive than any other recruiting organization. If your kids really and truly don't know that they might die if they sign up, I'm not sure they are clever enough to get through the interview process.
Crikey, if some of the people posting anti-armed forces posts on here have kids who think of the army as anything other than a death-trap for thickies, I'll be surprised.

TheDevilWearsPrimark,
I found the terrorist remark to LLP awful.

I have friends who fight in the war, and I am so proud of them. In fact, my best mates dh is there now.

ratclare - huge shiny gun being shot at my kid - is a biggee for me. esp when it was misadvertisemtn that would have got him there.

i have a 'step' nephew same age as my son in the army. this isbecuase he was a pain in the arse to his mum, who kept him off school frequently to look after her other children becuase shes too fucking lazy.

now the kid has no life skills, no friends and no education becuase of his mum. and he is the one who will be shot at? sommats wrong.

personal anecdote aside.

its the misadvertisment that annoys me.

its the army going into schools for a boo yaa lecture on how great it is.

why no boo ya " come be a mechanic, its great" boo ya " come be a bricklayer the money is fab" boo ya boo ya boo ya

why not? if the army was considered as other professions are considered EQUALLY - on an equal basis. then i may be more open to it.

Although a supporter of the armed forces, I don't accept any ethical difference between government and military. Nor between civillians who allow an evil government and the government itself.
Saddam never gassed Kurds, Hitler killed not one single Jew, no Pope burned any witches and George Bush has never tortured anyone.
All of the above had plenty of willing helpers.

I've always assumed that joining the armed forces tended to be a family affair. If your dad or uncle was, you were more likely to join up etc. More likely than someone who had no military members in their family that is. Is this the case?

A friend of mine was killed in the Falklands, as it happens my headhunting work brought one of the people who fired Exocets at his ship in front of me.
"Says here you used to be a fighter pilot..."
I missed it as first because he'd changed nationality.

I'm inordinately proud of the way I didn't kill him where he stood, in fact I'm not sure he even noticed the pause, and what DW calls my projected insincere smile.

what about the peacekeeping and humanitarian roles our army undertakes ,or cant people see past a big shiny gun?

the army have always done this havent they ? i remember them coming to my school 18yrs ago . Why is joining the military such a bad thing ?