So, a few points on some of the posts above.
I'm a soldier, I trained as a teacher when my fulltime regular Army career was coming to an end but was put off and rejoined.
I had a firm offer of employment but turned it down after a short whilast e because I was always looked upon as the person who they'd go to if they had a discipline problem and got a tad fed up with some of the people I worked with who didn't have the first idea how to manage people.
Did I ever have a problem with the discipline of my kids? No? Why? Don't know? Was I ever aggressive or harsh in my treatment? No. Did I get on with my kids? Fantastically! Just like soldiers, but smaller (and without the guns)
So some of us don't have a degree, so what? Does that stop us from delivering structured education? Probably not. We may have to put in the extra effort to gain the knowledge in the subject we're teaching but you'd probably be surprised what a service person could pull out of a bag if you asked them.
So a subject can be learned from books or by research and with a bit of effort or by using a bit of classroom participation (have we forgotten how to do this now in a prescribed syllabus) can we actually teach and get the students to help in their own education.
So, there It is. Question is, when it comes down to actually engaging with people, managing them and getting the best out of them, what 22-23 year old who's spent the last 3 or 4 years with their noses buried in books at university actually know how to do this?
People have a very poor view of how the forces conduct their training. Yes it's robust because it needs to be. Bullying yes it goes on, it goes on everywhere-difference is, the forces actively do something about it.
Most of the young soldiers we get come from poor backgrounds or broken families that have been let down by the education system. We've given them hope, a job and an education... like me, David is a hopeless case- my maths teacher once wrote on my school report! If he knew the maths involved in getting a regiment of artillery to fire accurately onto a given point at the same time he'd have been amazed.
So before you judge; ask. Give me a subject and I'll teach it. I questioned the relevance of my PGCE. Not once did anyone explain how we should actually conduct a lesson-it was an exercise in quoting dead people et al and how critically analyse my reflective practice. I learned how to teach, coach and mentor by the army. It also taught me how to be a human.