So pissed off at tories putting military youth groups into deprived area schools

[trashcanjunkie]

We live in Newcastle. Yes it's a deprived area. I feel aghast at the fact the only half decent comprehensive school in our area has a cadet group based at school, with fucking army wankers there recruiting kids. The whole army campaign to get them young and 'make them better people' boils my fucking piss. They're cannon fodder who will likely get shipped out to oil wars, and left up shit creek without a paddle, wanting for basic kit etc. Then they either get blown to pieces, die, or come home horrifically injured or psychologically shattered. Now the government are rolling out another military type program and are putting money into sending them into schools in deprived areas.

Fwiw I've nothing against youngsters learning discipline or survival skills etc. I just have an issue with recruiting cannon fodder from 'us plebs'....

There is.

St John's Ambulance cadets
Scouts
Girl guides

Strumpers I can't argue with you there, that does sound like it's worked wonders for her. But I can't help feeling this way. It literally feels like I've got steam coming from my ears when I think about it.

Cadets = sounds OK

Recruiting = I think this is the film OP was thinking of
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_9/11

My own children are too young but my nephew goes to a good private school. They have cadets there for the RAF and army. I also know that a recruiter comes to the school on careers day. My DH comes from what could be described as an underprivileged background due to choices that his mother made that I cannot be bothered to explain (she needs her own thread). The army allowed him to learn a trade that he would never have had the financial capacity to achieve had he not served. He now earns a very good wage whereas quite a few of his school year are either unemployable, alcoholics, drug users or dead. If he read what you have wrote his response would not be pleasant.

Your attitude stinks. What would you prefer kids did when they aren't university bound? Sit on the dole? Not everybody wants to be a plumber/builders apprentice or work in Tesco's for the next 20 years. You should commend kids who try and pull themselves out of a deprived area by signing up and serving their country.

Don't forget police cadets too!

Yes but the government isn't putting money into those organisations or promoting them going into schools in deprived areas. I'd love St. John's ambulance in their school, as would dcs.

Then find out where your local unit is and sign them up. You'll probably find some of their peers already go.

The government doesn't really fund cadet forces, we had to pay subs.

"army wankers"
Lovely!

I haven't seen an army recruiter in years. Literally years. For the record, cadet instructors are not actually Navy/Army/RAF, they are civilians. Some are ex forces, but they are the minority.

Yes it is the film, justmyview. I commend you for excellent sleuthing. It's a bloody hard watch.

Although, I do take the point made by several posters, that cadets aren't recruiters.... It still feels as though it is. Especially the ex major at our high school.

I agree with the op. Children from economically deprived areas should have more options to learn a trade and get out of poverty that don't involve enlisting tn the army. This is in no way a criticism of young people who joined the army in order to better themselves. It's a shame that it seems to be necessary though. The pay off for improving prospects is to be put in physical danger and to be involved in wars in which many people are killed and injured, many of the civilians. It makes me despair.

The Army Cadet Force is one of four cadet organisations sponsored and supported by the Ministry of Defence, the others being the Combined Cadet Force, the Sea Cadet Corps, and the Air Training Corps. Although they are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence there is no obligation on cadets to join the Armed Forces.

Oh Maryz I'm really sorry to hear that.

thisismeusernameything

I think the issue is that certain groups of young people in this country see/are presented with the armed forces as the only alternative to the options you have outlined.
There must be more to life than that for young people not cut out for university? Plumber or solider?

with fucking army wankers there recruiting kids.

How fucking rude can you get.

Best tell my PTSD suffering ex army DH that he is a 'army wanker' should I.

Just to add I am not disparaging either/any of those careers, more the lack of options available.

I really can't bring myself to get worked up about schools giving kids the chance to hear about an option of a genuine career path. They're not exactly bribing them with sweets to join. You either do or you don't, they can't make you join but they do provide children with life skills and opportunities through cadets that they may not otherwise get. I obviously am biased as DP is an "army wanker" though and I grew up knowing people who went through cadets for years. Most of them aren't in the army surprisingly enough because they didn't want to be.

But by joining a cadet force they learn so many transferable skills that will make them more employable to any employer. Not just the military.

Sign them up for Scouts. The modern scouting movement is brilliant

whatdolget many service men and women make careers in the forces by learning a trade. My dad for instance became a royal engineer. His speciality was brick laying and building. He then expanded into other areas. When he came out of the army (after 16 years) he then built up a solid business.
Not bad for a gateshead boy who had practically no qualifications prior to joining the Army.

I met my husband in the cadets when I was fifteen. We both come from council estates. I never joined up but he will have done 30 years next year. He joined non-commissioned and is now a group captain (RAF). That took blood, sweat, tears (mine and his!). He is neither homophobic nor broken; some of these assumptions do not seem to be based on experience? I could be wrong there and I am sorry if that is indeed the impression that some serving personnel have given you. The opportunities that have opened up for him and latterly for us as a family due to the military are immense. Of course there are dangers. Of course there are sides that are not as pleasant; we lost two friends, one very close, just last year in a Puma crash but the military has given my husband discipline, hope and a better life than he or his lovely parents ever imagined he could have.

Cadets are, as many have pointed out, not only aimed at those in deprived areas but when they are, people like me can join, enjoy, learn and developed skills and then not enlist and people like my husband can gain a lifelong career if they want it.

Caughtup you're missing my point. I don't feel like I want to sign the dcs up. I'm saying I'd much prefer St. John's to be rolled out across schools considered deprived instead of a military outfit. I absolutely don't think badly of any one who does do cadets or chooses to sign up... Just sad if that's what they feel is the only other option apart from drug gangs or a life of crime. Some of us from those deprived areas still managed to go to uni and get jobs. And some of us work in skilled or manual labour jobs too.

But the CCF have a long history of working in schools. St John's have divisions nationwide and are relatively easy to access and used to take children on fairly young as badgers before becoming cadets. Scouts are even easier for people to access and again take them from a young age.

My ex husband and now dh plus myself are all army wankers also

My dh was in scouts till he was 16 and joined the army straight from school

I was a instructor for the army cadets for just over a year and no one joined the regular army a few went to uni though