{"id":617,"date":"2025-05-24T10:47:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T09:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/riotandreason\/?p=617"},"modified":"2025-06-05T10:37:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T09:37:40","slug":"weaponised-poverty-the-british-army-recruitment-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/riotandreason\/2025\/05\/24\/weaponised-poverty-the-british-army-recruitment-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Weaponised poverty: The British army recruitment of children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Depression, bullying, and physical and mental stress is hardly going to make it onto a LinkedIn warrior\u2019s profile. But disguised in camo print, this is marketed as an attractive career path. Welcome to Britain, the only European and NATO member country to enlist children into the army from the age of 16. And their targets: lower income areas.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wars cost lives. But are some worth more than others? While most 16 year olds might get a part time job in their local supermarket or drive thru, those with fewer options are shoved into combat boots and forced through intense and demanding training. The army claims to provide \u2018new adventures, challenges, and the chance to make a real difference.\u2019 They also include \u2018travelling the world and engaging in thrilling sports\u2019 in the job description. What they don\u2019t say is that those who joined as children were twice as likely<\/a> to die in Afghanistan and are twice as likely<\/a> to take their own lives compared to those who join as adults. This isn\u2019t patriotism. It\u2019s exploitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what is happening to children in the army? Jim Wyke, coordinator and director of the National Security and Children\u2019s Rights Campaign<\/a> at the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) puts it plainly. \u201cThe current policies in place fail – actually fail – those who only want to serve their country or better themselves, so disgracefully, that we have to change them,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you join at 16, you can’t leave for the first six weeks of training. Parents can\u2019t come and visit, and you have very limited access to your phone. If that’s not a recipe for child abuse, I don\u2019t know what is. It’s completely inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But instead of helping, the government is marching forwards. Earlier this year, they announced it will be easier to join the army. They also happened to cut incapacity benefits for those aged under 22, and encouraged this chronically lazy group into work or education – with a specific push on the understaffed army. But this isn\u2019t a dreaded Saturday shift stacking shelves or flipping burgers. Surely signing away your freedoms – and in some cases your life – should be a longer, well considered process? Armed forces Minister, Luke Pollard, described this new recruitment style as a way to \u2018attract the best talent\u2019. But if that means closing every door except one that leads to the barracks, is this really a choice? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoverty is the greatest recruitment sergeant,\u201d says Jim. \u201cThink of what\u2019s pushing 16 year olds to continue to join the military. If you want to get away from home, if there’s alcohol or drugs in the house, you\u2019re from a very difficult upbringing, your parents need the money and you want to send some home to support your family, one of the only ways of doing it at that age is to join the military. Recruitment at 16 is really a story of austerity. It’s a story of child poverty and it’s a story of deprivation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worryingly, this trend isn\u2019t new. Research<\/a> in collaboration with the CRIN found recruitment to be 57% higher in the most deprived fifth of constituencies than the least deprived fifth. But for those who do join under the age of 18, around 30% end up dropping out. So this clearly isn\u2019t the dystopian gap year the recruitment video jumping from heavy machinery to snorkelling would have you believe. It’s a cruel test. And it\u2019s not children failing, it\u2019s the system failing them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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