Britain's Child Soldiers (A Commentary)

Britain's Child Soldiers -- Michael Bartlet, The Guardian

Denying those under the age of 18 the right to leave the army is outdated, immoral and in breach of UN guidelines

At 16 you are not old enough to vote, buy a pint in a pub or ride a motorbike. Yet you can join the armed forces, and commit yourself for four years beyond your 18th birthday. On becoming legally adult you can then be sent to the frontline in Afghanistan. A 16-year-old soldier can train with live ammunition, yet when he goes back to barracks in the evening he isn't old enough to rent an X-rated DVD of Apocalypse Now, a film dealing with the horrors of war – because it is too violent.

Notions of childhood change. During the siege of Mafeking in 1900, Robert Baden Powell recruited 12-year-old boys to deliver messages under fire. They wore khaki and their leader was the 13-year-old Warner Goodyear. But today Britain is the only European country to recruit into the regular army at 16. Perversely those young recruits are required to serve two years longer than those recruited at 18.

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My Comment: With personnel cutbacks in the U.K. military slated in the near future .... these kids should be the first to go. But my gut is telling me that they will probably be the last to go.