AIBU to be upset that the school careers advisor suggest my 14yo son join the army?

[SushhhhNow]

Genuinely interested to know if I'm over reacting.

DS wants to join the police force. He had been considering going to university before applying, or possibly working after college for a couple of years. However, last week he had an appointment with a careers advisor who said he should think about joining the army first! She told him he'd be more likely to get in with an army background.

TIA

I'd think the answer lies in your own OP - it was a 'suggestion' not a 'command'. Careers Adviser throwing ideas around. Your son has his own mind, to choose what he wants to do.

As has already been said, qualifed careers adviser never tell student "what to do". We explore options with them and hopefully give them the tools for them to decide. This includes post GCSE options and not just careers.

Maybe this was discussed in general or maybe more with a careers teacher, which is not the same thing as careers adviser.

SushhhhNow you son's careers teacher is wrong. I'm in now way disrespecting the military but an army career is no more an advantage than any other career.

At 14 your son might like to join his local Police Cadets, they meet one evening a week and do things during the school holidays. It's not a guarantee of acceptance but it is a fun way to learn more about the police.

If he is still serious about the police when he's older he may have to consider becoming a Special Constable as many forces recruit from the specials. He could join whilst being at uni, if uni is the right path for him.

Is the fact that 'DS was already attracted to the idea of joining the army' the most likely reason she discussed it with him?

Years ago I went out with a lad who was desperate to get in to the police at 18. He was also given the advice (not by a school careers advisor) that he should join the military police first as they prefer new recruits to the civilian police to have life experience.

Another careers adviser here. I once worked in a boys' high school where every year 11 was advised either to enter banking or the army according to his perceived ability (honestly) by the Careers Master who was not a qualified careers adviser. I had a lot of work to do in that school, but at least I had allocated time to support them in making decisions, exploring options, etc. Those were the good old days when careers guidance was a statutory service. You might be surprised just how few schools nowadays have an independent, unbiased person delivering careers information and guidance, and some try palm it off onto teachers or other staff members who, in some cases, DO think it's about suggesting random careers.

If CA is prof qualified then the army may have been one of a number of related options explored?

I miss the good old days when students had access to face to face individual, impartial information, advice and guidance from a professionally qualified adviser :(

so do the universities, employers, colleges, social workers, SENCO's etc - sadly this government ignores them again and again

Being a member of the armed forces carries with it a significant risk of injury or death. Much more so than in pretty much any other profession. So yes, I think it is immoral to suggest it as a viable career option to a 14 year old. He is able to join as a boy soldier from 16/17 iirc, an age at which I personally didn't know what the fuck I thought about anything, let alone an age at which you are well equipt make such a huge decision. All respect to the armed forces personnel who serve, but do we really want to be a society who recruits our children into war?

I think YABU.
He is most unlikely to get into the police at 18, so they were bound to explore other options. There is the Royal Military Police in the army that he could join at 18, so he/she may have been thinking about this, so he would have transferable skills when applying to the police service.

Here in the US, any government job (such as the police department) gives perference to someone who has served in the military. If that's the case in the UK, then going into the Army isn't a terrible idea. He probably will gain skills in the Army similar to those that are required by the police department, too.

maybe the CA suggested the Army cadets as this would give him some good skills in which could be built upon and transferred into many different careers.

Sometimes when a conversation is retold it can lose the sense a bit, she may have given a few options to think about including army and that stuck in his head.

Being in the army isn't a particularly established route into the police (there are a decent no of ex military police officers but I think this is more about their discipline skills etc which are appriciated)
I'm another who would be devestated to have an army career suggested to my child who hadn't been thinking it themselves :(

your son can go to uni then join the army as an officer. Good career.

I think YABU - the police is extremely difficult to get in to, especially at just 18 with no real life experience.

It sounds like your son had thought of the possibility and he and the careers advisor were exploring this option and also looking at the possibility of him joining the police later (my dad did exactly this - army for 10 years then into the police after).

He could go to uni and then join the army as an officer or go into the police.

The army does carry risks but it can be an excellent career. My brother joined the tank regiment at 16 and has had a brilliant career - lots of travel (both for training and for operational duties) he's done lots of courses which have really developed his skills and has made some great friends. At 32 he's still serving, is married with two children and wouldn't swap it for anything.

Hate to burst your bubble Charitybelle but I would take a good guess that being a Police Officer in, say London, is more dangerous than being a soldier these days.

Someone pointed upthread to Police Force redundancies, well my husband has just been told there is another tranche of Armed Forces redundancies too.

My 14 year old son wants to join up, if he still wants to at 16 I will sign him in as long as he gets a trade role as opposed to an infanteer role. He has been told that and he has been told why.

The Army is not what it used to be. The pension has been cut off so that any lifers (22 years) no longer get a pension when they leave (well for the shorter servers and new joiners), the good postings are few and far between, and the BS has crept in harder and faster than any civilian job.

As an aside, Afghanistan is done. Iraq is done. When the next tranche of redundancies are over we will have little more than a national guard so I doubt very much we will play a major part in any war and if we are attacked I would hazard a guess that we would be back to national subscription.

ShushhhhhNow I would get your son to an Army Cadets Battalion and see how he gets on. He might absolutely hate it.

Ha ha @ PunpkinPie2013 the other side of the coin! My husband completes 23 years next year and hates it. He, however, is infantry. Being in a Corps and having a decent job makes all the difference.

The OP's son had already been considering it but the OP 'strongly discouraged' him. So the CA can't be blamed for giving him any funny ideas!

Whatever your objections to the army as a career (and I too would have many for my DSs) you can't object morally to the CS suggesting it as an option. Careers Advisers have to be impartial and objective. They have to keep their own beliefs and opinions out of the advice they give and they have to help the young person develop an awareness and understanding of the options available to them.

Here is a young person who has already expressed an interest in the forces. It would have been more immoral for the careers adviser not to have mentioned the army as one option among many.

financialwizard is not wrong. When the next round of redundancies hit (and they will!) it will be harder and harder to get into the Army. A bit like the Police. But hey ho, not to worry, when the shit hits the fan on an epic scale he'll be able to join instantly! Nay, will have to join.

Lots of police forces recruit internally first for officer posts now - police staff, PCSOs and Specials first. There are quite a few ex MOD staff in the police but its not a guaranteed route in, and seems a long way round!

If your DS has already shown an interest in the army as a career before maybe he brought it up with the careers advisor himself?

At least she didn't suggest that he went to the local college and did the Uniformed Public Service course.

Financialwizard, how many military and police casualties have there been in the last decade? The former dwarfs the latter.