Thread: Army Strong commercial

Sorry but that Royal Marine advert doesnt seem to glamorise anything to me...

EDIT: This is a great webby Thinking of joining the armed forces?

Army accused of glamorising war and recruiting youngsters | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

"Army accused of glamorising war and recruiting youngsters"

Potential recruits to the armed forces are given a misleading picture of military life, including the physical risks and ethical dilemmas involved, according to a report published today. They are not always told that once they enlist, they have to stay in the forces for years, it says.
Britain is the only European country which recruits youngsters into the armed forces from the age of 16, though they cannot be deployed on operations until they are 18. The Ministry of Defence, which last night criticised the report, says this is the only way it can compete in the battle to attract school-leavers. However, today's report says the armed forces draw non-officer recruits mainly from among young people with "low educational attainment and living in poor communities".


More than £2bn is invested each year in recruiting and training about 20,000 new personnel to replace those who leave, it adds. "The primary target groups for armed forces marketing are children and adolescents," it says.
The report was written by David Gee, a researcher who formerly ran the Quakers' peace and disarmament programme. It was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. It refers to remarks made last year by Colonel David Allfrey, head of the army's recruitment strategy. "It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, 'That looks great'," he told the New Statesman. "From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip."

Marketing to children below the recruitment age commonly "glamorises warfare", today's report says. It refers to an army website, Camouflage, aimed at 12- to 17-year-olds, which encourages youngsters to participate in games.

The report proposes an armed forces recruitment charter setting out the state's responsibilities. It should include "unambiguous information about legal obligations" and the "need to consider ethical issues such as killing", it says. The report highlights well-publicised problems in the army such as bullying and a lack of adequate attention paid to those with post-traumatic stress disorders.

The MoD has responded to fierce criticism of the treatment of veterans and young soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families, by spending more on compensation for injuries. Last night a spokeswoman said some of the report's assertions were incorrect and ill-informed, others were selective in their interpretation of recruitment practices, and some of the evidence quoted was out of date. It was made clear to recruits they could apply to leave up to six months after they enlisted, she said. Thereafter, they had to stay for four years.

She added: "Our recruitment practices avoid 'glamorising war' and we refute any allegation that they depict warfare as 'game-like'. Anyone considering a career in the armed forces is presented with clear information and all aspects of service life are discussed in detail, following a sensitive recruitment process."

Top military officials are drawing up plans to increase the size of the army despite severe pressures on the defence budget, government sources have told the Guardian. There is growing concern among army chiefs that the service cannot go on performing tasks demanded of it, and prepare for other contingencies, without a substantial increase in manpower.