Britain's Child Army

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Saturday February 03, 2007 16:06 by pat c

Conscription never went away you know. It just became Economic Conscription. It is Working Class kids who will die in the war for oil. Sixteen-year-old Cara is particularly keen. "They told us about the pay, and it's way better than all my cousins
are getting," she says.

Don't forget : James Connolly first came to Ireland in the uniform of a British Soldier, he was an Economic Conscript.

pat c

Britain's child army

Stricken by Iraq and low morale, the British army is on a desperate
recruitment drive. Its new targets? Poorly educated teenagers and young
schoolchildren

On a winter day, 38 schoolchildren gather at Fulwood Barracks in Preston. They are aged between 14 and 16 they have been bussed over from a poorly performing comprehensive in a deprived area. The teachers who have come along with them seem apprehensive. Many of these kids can be unruly; others are quiet but don't perform well in class.

Warrant Officer Nick Froehling, however, is young, friendly and easy going. Within minutes he has the children doing rifle drill, shifting model SA80s from shoulder to arm's length and back down to "at ease" - although Froehling doesn't say "At ease". He prefers the order "Chill".

2,000 shortfall in numbers of actual recruits against targets in October
2006

6.6% of recruits in 2006 were women

7.3% of current army personnel are of an ethnic minority

21 years the largest age-group among personnel

£12,000 starting salary of a new recruit

27 average age of British soldiers killed in Iraq in 2006