More than half of Army applicants refused on medical grounds in 2024 were turned away for psychiatric reasons, according to new figures placed in the House of Commons Library by Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard.
In a letter to Derek Twigg MP, Pollard provided data from the Directorate of Army Recruiting covering the period 2020 to 2024. The statistics show a consistent trend: psychiatric conditions dominate medical rejections year after year.
In 2020, they accounted for 54 percent of all refusals (3,335 applicants). The figure rose to 5,239 in 2021 (52 percent), dropped to 2,985 in 2022 (42 percent), then climbed again to 4,408 in 2023 (45 percent) before reaching 7,379 in 2024 (54 percent).
Other categories were far smaller in comparison but still affected significant numbers of potential recruits. Musculoskeletal issues remained the second most frequent cause, making up between 11 and 15 percent annually. In 2020, 789 applicants were refused for musculoskeletal reasons, compared to 1,329 in 2021, 1,053 in 2022, 1,262 in 2023, and 1,559 in 2024.
Respiratory conditions accounted for around 6 to 7 percent of cases each year, rising from 339 refusals in 2020 to 781 in 2024. Dermatological issues followed a similar trajectory, with 325 applicants rejected in 2020 and 745 in 2024. Neurological problems also grew from 273 in 2020 to 659 in 2024, consistently representing about 4 to 6 percent of medical refusals.
Gastrointestinal conditions were cited in 246 refusals in 2020, increasing to 590 by 2024. Eye-related conditions peaked in 2023 with 492 cases but dropped to 474 in 2024. ENT problems fluctuated but stood at 351 refusals last year. Cardiovascular issues accounted for between 2 and 3 percent of cases, from 128 in 2020 to 275 in 2024.
Smaller categories persisted throughout the period. Renal and urological conditions doubled between 2020 (81 refusals) and 2024 (253). Endocrine issues remained consistently low, with just 83 refusals in 2024. Reproductive health accounted for under one percent but still rose from 19 cases in 2020 to 76 in 2024. Dental problems were the least cited reason but increased steadily from 10 refusals in 2020 to 52 in 2024.
Pollard told Twigg: “Enclosed is an updated table detailing the information requested to include the numbers by category for the most frequent reasons for new applicants to the Army being refused on medical grounds each year, since 2020. This information was provided by the Directorate of Army Recruiting. I will place a copy of this letter, and the associated table, in the Library of the House.”
The figures highlight the sustained impact of mental health on recruitment, with psychiatric grounds outweighing all other categories combined. They also underline persistent medical barriers across a wide range of conditions, posing challenges to Army recruitment at a time of increased demand for personnel.
‘Reproductive health accounted for under one percent but still rose from 19 cases in 2020 to 76 in 2024.’
Seems like an odd reason to reject someone, perhaps someone below could explain why it could be an issue?
They were redirected to the Royal Navy desk and became Seamen.
There are plenty of conditions like Endometriosis that are reproductive in nature, but cause long term chronic pain and fatigue that are incompatible with service.
Makes sense, thank you.
Pregnancy mostly I suspect, dealing with a lot of young women applying and there will always be a number that find out they are pregnant during application.
Pregnancy doesn’t disqualify you, you’d get a deferred acceptance if everything else was fine.
Potentially not with CRAPITA.
Nope. Deferred, not disqualified.
Im thinking girls got pregnant after they started the process. It’s one thing to make accommodations for a serving soldier, it’s another for someone who hasn’t even started basic training yet.
Nope. You get pregnant it’s not a disqualification from service (Seriously maybe read the previous responses?). You won’t be allowed to progress to training, but you also won’t be outright disqualified. If you start the process and you get pregnant you get put on pause, but not kicked out.
(Also it’s not just women who suffer reproductive issues that might disqualify them from service, someone who has had repeated testicular torsion might find “reproductive issues” as a reason for not getting in).
True story, the Japanese did not even have a word for depression before the 1990s, they simply considered the feelings we associate with the “mental illness of depression” as a normal human reaction to events, that you simply lived through. This was such a cultural truth that the pharmaceutical companies decided not to market their new Drugs ( SSRIs) into Japan as there was no market, the Japanese believed sitting with normal human feelings was fine and they did not need to be “cured”. But the greed of the pharmaceutical industry knows no boundaries and in the mid 1990s they launched a massive “public health/advertising campaign” and created the condition “kokoro no kaze” or “cold of the soul” basically creating the idea that the feelings of depression were a disease you could take medication for and so they created the concept of the disease of depression in Japan so they could sell SSRIs..a set of drugs with some of the most limited evidence base on efficacy you could imagine..an action that has no evidence it makes a difference with a massive set of side effects including losing the ability to feel emotions, sexual disfunction and increased risk of suicide…
The reality of anxiety and depression are that they are essentially a function of the minds limbic system, they are a perfectly natural response that the mind uses to keep use alive, they are reactions to perceived dangers be they real or imagined… depression and anxiety are not diseases they are normal human reactions to something wrong within our environment or how we are dealing with our environment, remove that thing which is wrong ( the stressor) and or get the person to accept the stressor it’s that simple ( or actually quite complicated and takes time and care) .. hunger is not a disease, happiness and sadness are not a disease, feeling discomfort is not a disease…supporting a person to live with and through their discomfort is vital, the reality is suspect a lot of people with anxiety or depression would find their symptoms resolved if they we moved to a healthy environment, with lots of physical tasks and challenges to focus on and overcome.. but we tend to give people a pill that shuts down the normal function of neurons and leave them to rot.
Depression and anxiety are a normal part of the human condition that you manage by allowing people to live… they are not diseases or infact disabilities…
I agree with a lot of what you’ve said—there’s definitely truth in the idea that anxiety and depression are natural human responses to stress, and that historically, cultures like Japan didn’t medicalise these feelings in the way Western psychiatry does. Society has, in many ways, over-promoted the “mental health crisis” narrative, especially for young people, sometimes framing mild, everyday distress as pathological. There’s a lot of pressure to label and medicate feelings that are often just part of growing, struggling, or dealing with life.
That said, I have to disagree with the last paragraph. While it’s true that environment and lifestyle matter enormously, clinical depression and anxiety disorders are more than just normal reactions—they can be chronic, disabling, and even life-threatening. Saying they are “not diseases or disabilities” ignores the experiences of people whose symptoms persist regardless of environmental change. Medication and therapy aren’t perfect, but for some people they make a real difference alongside lifestyle improvements and support. The reality is that mental health exists on a spectrum: some distress is mild and normal, some requires care, and both perspectives deserve acknowledgment.
Our western lifestyle, culture and environment has been twisted to enable the development of a whole industry for the pharmaceutical and psychology businesses. People have always had stresses and bad times but trying to diagnose every bump in your life is a recipe for unhappiness and debilitating people.
We now have nigh on a million people unable/unwilling to work because of it and ironically for the vast majority a job would be the cure with human interaction, job satisfaction and a busy routine improving those individuals self esteem.
For a very small percentage medical intervention is required.
I would highlight however, having had some contact with mental health professionals one of the saddest things in our society is the liberals belief in decriminalisation of soft drugs. For the young developing brain up to age 24 the use of cannabis on a regular basis is far from harmless and can lead to psychotic episodes but our msm is very loathe to discuss preferring to focus on the heath benefits for a few.
I won’t repeat everything I’ve already written above and below, but yes—I’m not disagreeing with you.
Do you mind if I ask you what qualifications you have in the field of mental health?
Hi JJ I’ve worked with a hell of a lot of people with anxiety and depression. Within it all is a reaction to something. I’m honestly not lessening it in any way or lessens the impact, I just don’t believe the medical model is correct for depression and anxiety.. essentially to me it’s not a disease it simply is a condition of being human.
I know it very well indeed, one of my jobs was to oversee the investigation of every suicide in a population of around 2 million people, over years I had to read each person’s medical notes, their life history, statements from friends and family, in every single case there was always something extraordinary that was external that you could trace back and the different between those who could still live will and those who could not was generally how they though about their life, for most to be honest it was a trauma in childhood, abuse that lead to a cascade, for some it was an event that happened in adulthood or an ongoing event. Those that did well could be essentially mindful and focus on the present, accept both discomfort as well as positive feelings and live within those.. supporting those life skills was fundamentally important.
I’ve had to manage this fact of life and being human myself. One of my worst episodes of unresolved trauma is a case of a child I failed to resuscitate, I can see his little face perfectly, place myself in the room with utter clarity.. poor lad hung himself due to bullying and I’ve physically managed and tried to resuscitate many other people who died deaths from suicide including drowning, smashed to bits by trains, poisoned, knifed ( as in cut many pieces of themselves) I’ve had conversations with people who calmly told me they were heading home to cut their throats ( they were not mentally ill so we could not keep them ), I’ve resuscitated individuals I’ve known for years professionally after they jump 6 floors and lost one of my best friends to suicide. I’ve been responsible for the quality of care and safety of a population of millions and I’ve seen that collapse, I’ve seen its impact on the workforce as their health and wellbeing collapsed due to threat stress overwelling them. I’ve suffered profound stress an anxiety myself as I’ve personally seen probably well over 2000 people die ( in may cases in horrible ways) I’ve tried to save or at least alleviate their suffering, I’ve investigated thousands of deaths ( it’s surprising what can and will kill or maim you), I’ve investigated mass abuse, mass murder etc, been responsible for closing unsafe services, knowing they cannot be replaced.. that all left a big mark and I’ve spent a shed load of time working through those via talking therapy and professional supervision.. but even when I was in a very dark place ( and at one point I could literally just about manage to stare at a wall) I did not use SSRIs.. I accessed quality talking therapy to work on how I though about things and focus in the moment.. not on the faces.
And just to finish off my retirement job is as a psychotherapist.. why not use all that insight of suffering.
Even with my huge interaction with mental health, I have always have fundamental disagreement with the notion of the medical illness model specifically around depression and. Anxiety, as a physical analogy starvation is not illness, it can cause medical issues, but once a person gets the correct nutrition the starvation is removed. Poor physical condition is not an illness, It’s exactly the same with anxiety and depression.. if you can find the mental food to give the person sustenance or exercise/train their mind in the way that works for them you can help that person live a normal happy life.
The medical model of a neurological “chemical imbalance” that drove SSRI prescription has been roundly debunked as essentially sudo science that drug companies grasped onto to find a market for their new drugs.. you have to understand that essentially they found SSRIs then looked for a theory that would support their use..then did not dig very deeply to see if it was backed by evidence, when you dig into SSRIs and the treatment of depression and anxiety the case for them falls to pieces.. and they also remove the fundamental building blocks needed to manage and build good mental health, the ability to feel, the ability to connect. Then you add the fact they are some of the most physically addictive substances we give out and reducing the doses makes the person feel awful.. they essentially create a barrier to recovery ( hint I don’t like SSRIs and would not use them personally, the use of them is presently tearing the healthcare professions in knots as it argues with itself and comes to terms with what modern Neuroscience is saying and the findings of the large scale research reviews on SSRIs have revealed.
Basically a few things we now know through neuroscience, anxiety and depression are normal reactions to the world, not something to be “treated away” as you cannot have a human mind that does have the feelings of depression or anxiety, therefore you can find ways for that person to live well with those feelings.. that is it..
The one thing we have learn is the more we try to chemically isolate people from feelings and sensations using highly addictive and damaging chemicals the more long term harm we tend to cause … I will leave you with this…meta analysis shows the prescribing rates of antidepressants have no correlation or effect in short or long term trends in suicide rates across populations, and differing populations have differing suicide rates, but most meta analysis does provide correlation between social and economic factors…( starting reference: did the introduction and increase prescriping of antidepressants lead to changes in long term trends of suicide rates, Simone Amendola et al, European journal of public health).
In the end talking therapy and lifestyle support have an evidence base behind them that is not bias and have no set of hideous side effects, the more we look at the evidence base behind SSRIs the weaker the evidence base and more obvious the bias is becoming and SSRIs are massively addictive and have a large number of side effects.. I fear in a few years we will simply have a new OxyContin scandal on our hands ( infact the same immoral ass hat that made up the data and evidence on OxyContin and caused mass harm when he conned the world was the mastermind behind selling SSRIs to the world in the 1990s.
Hi Jonathan, Thank you for sharing all of that—it’s clear you’ve witnessed and experienced an extraordinary amount of suffering firsthand, and your perspective carries immense weight. I agree with much of what you’ve said. Anxiety and depression are often reactions to real-life stressors, trauma, or environmental pressures, and helping people develop the skills to live with these experiences is vital.
I also share your skepticism about the chemical imbalance model and the over-prescription of SSRIs. The evidence base is far more limited than often presented, and for many people, these medications can interfere with the very tools—connection, awareness, and emotional resilience—that are fundamental to long-term recovery. Lifestyle support, talking therapy, social engagement, and meaningful work frequently provide far more sustainable benefit.
That said, I do believe there remains a small subset of people whose anxiety or depression is so severe, persistent, or biologically influenced that medication can help stabilize them enough to benefit from therapy and meaningful life changes.
O yes I agree sometimes the person is in such a mess that unless you do something drastic awful things will happen, but it should be treated as an emergency intervention.. just as you give morphine to the trauma victim as you stabilise and treat them. But a short time later you should be working them off the drug. I also think that if they are such a risk that medication is really required they should probably be an inpatient as well.
All in all I’m a believer in talking therapy first, second and third and medication only if you feel that the person is at profound risk and for as short a time as you possibly can.. I would essentially restrict them to specialist services to be honest.
Johnathan, a really good piece and it is obvious you have seen a lot in your time. I have coached and mentored young people in a sport, education and work environments for 25 years and been involved in some rehabilitation work with ex offenders whilst I have also been engaged with consultants in delivery of new mental health facilities.
My overarching sentiment is the very poor level of parenting and indeed downright neglect we tolerate in the U.K, which leads to young people having very low aspirations and poor educational attainment, which condemns them to a lifetime of struggle. It is genuinely heartbreaking to see that happening to bright kids that leads in many instances to drugs, crime and mental health issues.
If I could do a couple of things to improve the situation in the long term it would be reintroducing Sure Start Centres and a concerted effort to improve the aspirations of working class boys (particularly those at the very bottom, which tend to be but not exclusively white who live in some our provincial and old industrial towns and cities).
Yep agree, a lot of mental health issues, especially around the ability to manage stress response is built up in childhood. We all tend to have a point at which levels of threat stress will overcome our own resilience, but the level of resilience we have as adults tends to be developed in childhood.
JJ a couple of really good reads
Bad medicine “the rise and rise of antidepressants. British journal of general practice, By D Spence..it’s a short discussion paper so her she blows the text below.
Safe spaces’ are areas at universities that seek to protect students from ideas that they might find ‘triggering’ and potentially upsetting. Fine in principle, but the unintentional consequence is that this shuts down free speech and discussion. A new authoritarian political correctness, with a simplistic dogma that there is a right and wrong way to think. And this new absolutism is encroaching into medicine. Questioning the current model of mental health leads to angry accusations of dismissing mental health. Yet, as we begin to acknowledge the risk of overdiagnosis generally, there seems an unwillingness to acknowledge this in mental illness. There is no recognition that any illness label has a significant impact on wellbeing, the future, and our relationships. And once labelled we struggle to be unlabelled.
The naturally-intuitive behaviourist model of mental health is all but shut down. For modern psychiatry sees mental health problems as a mere ‘imbalance’ of neurotransmitters that ‘medication’ can correct: a financial goldmine of common and chronic conditions requiring multiple medications. Much of the aggressive advocacy for mental health from the psychiatric community and Big Pharma seems little more than raw financial self interest. And this drug-based model is self-fulfilling as medication validates the biological model. ‘A pill for every ill’ is today’s concrete therapeutic mindset. But there is scant evidence to support the reductionist biological neurotransmitter model1 that dismisses and diminishes the complexity of life as but a mere mix of crude chemical reactions.
Every year newspapers report an annual rise in antidepressant prescribing. But nothing ever changes. Antidepressants prescribing rates have doubled in a decade, to 61 million prescriptions in 2015.2 Some commentators hail this as progressive care and with much of the increase from long-term use. We are assured antidepressants are not being overused. But this isn’t true.
Most patients have mild to moderate depressive symptoms. Some reviews suggest antidepressants are ineffective in this group.3,4 But assuming antidepressants are effective, the numbers needed to treat is 7,5 meaning that only 14% of patients actually benefit. A further 75% of the observed benefit of antidepressants is in fact simply a placebo response.6 Yet there are effective non-drug alternatives that work better.7
As for the trend for long-term antidepressants prescribing, there are virtually no studies beyond a few years,8,9 but antidepressants are being prescribed for decades. And when patients try to stop, half of them experience withdrawal10 with agitation, insomnia, and mood swings which many construe as a return of their low mood. Patients struggle to stop medication due to these physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms, so isn’t this a type of dependence? Anecdotally, patients elect to continue antidepressants, and remain stuck in a loop for years. And how safe are antidepressants when taken for decades? Why is there no systemic attempt to review long-term antidepressant prescribing?
Antidepressants are a problem for millions. The truth is, antidepressants lack efficacy, have a high placebo response and risk a long-term form of dependence.
I would very much look at the papers, book and podcasts with Dr Joanna Moncrieff, Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London, consultant psychiatrist for the NHS. She is essentially the senior clinician that blew the lid on SSRIs. Her view is that essentially all so called anti depressants are essentially nothing more than any other psychoactive substance ( just like alcohol, cannabis etc ) which suggests that since psychiatric drugs are psychoactive substances, they work because they change the way people think, feel and behave in the moment you are under their influence ( drugged) According to this model, psychiatric drugs have no specific biological effects in people with a mental disorder, and they produce their characteristic effects in everyone who takes them. The changes induced by some sorts of drugs may, however, lead to the suppression of the manifestations (symptoms) of some mental disorders this has created The Myth of the Chemical Cure…but for this your hooking a person on a very harmful addictive substance they may not be able to stop taking that has a whole host of damaging effects on the mind and body.
The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence Dr Joanne Moncrieff 2022
Long read, The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment Dr Joanne Moncrieff.
So essentially what she is saying is that if a person is in such a mess that you think you need to use a psychoactive substance to change how they are thinking in the short term fine.. but these are not cures..they have harms and in the long term are potentially massively damaging. A physical analogy is opioids.. if your having your leg chopped off morphine is great.. take it over years for cronic pain and it will destroy you… pharmaceutical companies will and do try to get use all to take these things for years.
“Safe spaces’ are areas at universities that seek to protect students from ideas that they might find ‘triggering’ and potentially upsetting. Fine in principle, but the unintentional consequence is that this shuts down free speech and discussion.”
Well, this is one thing we’re in complete agreement on 👍 For more on this, check out Jonathan Haidt on YouTube or his books—really great insights.
Thankyou Jonathan for taken the time and effort to share with us your experiences and pain.
I am lost for words reading all that.
Lots of stuff very personal and close to home.
Not being rude but is this AI generated? It reads like it.
Umm no, AI does not generate spelling mistakes and shite grammar
Dyslexia does that
And to confirm, when you have to say the words “not being rude” you are infact probably being rude. Not being rude 🤣
What a load of bollocks 😂
What do they mean by mental health problems. Are they saying that recruits are suffering from mental health problems (In which case you have to ask about the recruitment strategy) or are they saying these people are vulnerable to future mental health problems (in which case what is the science behind that assertion)? I suspect that they are using ‘mental health’ as a catch all for judged not suitable at interview. As with all such figures the MOD (and other institutions) produce I’d suggest a lot of digging is necessary to get at the truth.
If about half of applicants fail due to health issues and half of those are mental health.. that would tally with the moderate take on mental illness and levels.
The problem I suspect comes from the fact anxiety and depression are essentially barriers to joining and yet anxiety and depression are essentially normal parts of the human condition… personally I blame the drug companies.. if anxiety was normal nobody would take SSRIs for it ( because they are horrible) so you make it abnormal and “ohhh look we have a treatment” instead of restricting the drug to the small number of cases where there is truly debilitating “disease” .. because there is no profit in marginal diseases.
Mental health issues? Are they caused by having to wait a year to get an answer?
And it’s likely that a year wait and uncertainty with a poor process in which you had no control with a seaming arbitrary outcome would be the exact thing that would trigger an anxiety response in a person.
Bang on, my friend.
FFS 🤦🏻♂️
You’d get rejected on Mental Health issues long before having to wait a year to get in. Mental Health usually gets picked up on the first round of screening, clinical depression, suicide attempts, (I think some things in initial interview like “I want to kill Aliens” might come under mental health too but that might just be rejection as unsuitable character).
Generally Mental Health Issues can be read as “someone you wouldn’t want to hand a loaded fire arm because your worried that they’ll hurt themselves or someone else.” (though I think Autism and ADHD can also be grounds for disqualification IIRC).
Fair comment. We see the headline and remember the stories so react. You’re right of course. Even the dreaded Capita can probably work out the issues you’ve mentioned. Thanks for pointing them out.
Thanks, I think it’s also worth remembering that we are a peace time army, and that it is probably worth erring on the side of caution where possible. It’s probably better to reject a few people too many than to have someone turn a weapon on themselves or others currently. Obviously in an existential peer conflict the risk appetite would probably change.
I recently read an article about the police not being able to recruit. It seems the problem is widespread and I for one don’t know what the answer is.
I don’t really know enough about the Police service, though talking to my civie friends I always get the impression the Police has a major image problem that it really doesn’t know how to handle.
For the Army, poor pay, poor accommodation, lots of sacrifices in terms of personal life, low exposure, NATO skepticism from both the Far-Right and the Far-Left, lack of deployment opportunities, the end of the BAOR, running from Afghan after TACO put his tail between his legs, combined with bad takes from both sides of the political spectrum of what life in the army is like, and yeah… there’s a lot of issues the Armed Forces have recruiting, and of course the difficulty of joining is an extra barrier on top of all that.
Well Dern. I think you have said it all and very well. Perhaps you should send it to our politicians? I have three relations from service life. Two RN and one RAF, all a generation below mine. My God daughter is just about to call it a day with years served, the other two have been out for sometime. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are unhappy with their own experiences but none of the three would recommend their own children joining up. Not today anyway.
Many people join with PTSD, they are usually escaping something.
I certainly did.
Forces News were showing how these applications get rejected.
CRAPITA has a website that you need to apply to and basically if you input anything in that it doesn’t recognise then the computer says NO and they reject your application. No people involved. They showed a man with a simple childhood eye condition that was fixed when he was a child a condition his grandfather served with yet the website rejected him four times with zero human input.
Many people want to blame CRAPITA for this but I don’t, they are just a company perusing profit at any cost.
I blame they over promoted public school boys who thought that they could outsource the single most important aspect of the army (recruitment) to a f**king website run by and outsourcing company that already had a terrible reputation.
What cap badge do you suppose was saved by this decision? Or perhaps what civi street consultant gig was created for said over promoted public school boys.
This is what we can’t have nice things
The government can pour a boat load of more money into the army but it will still be run by muppets completely incapable of operating outside of a field with a map so it will still be shit. It will continue to pour £10 billion plus away each year on a force that’s largely incapable of deploying anything beyond a brigade and can’t be expanded because even though the countries population has never been bigger and its army has never been smaller they can’t even fill the existing positions they have despite having record numbers of peace time recruits applying.
That’s it, I’m going to apply first thing in the morning.
It seems to me that psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, are probably taken out of context in many cases, regarding applications for the Armed Forces.
21st Century people are told to vent, release and express their feelings like never before. The days of the ‘stiff upper lip’ are long gone. Venting, releasing weeping and whatnot are normal in todays world. Is it possible therefore, that a trip to a doctor after ‘Johns’ granny died, results in John being ‘issued’ with some happy pills for a month, to help ease his grief and despair.
Later, John applies to join the Armed Forces. Those carrying out the recruiting contact ‘Johns’ doctor, see that he has on anti-depressants, not wondering the what, where, why or how, and categorise ‘John’ as unsuitable for military service.
I imagine this ‘recruiter’ diagnosis has happened on many occasions, disqualifying many many applicants.
None of this tosh was about in the two last wars ,and I will add that in 1997 I was given antidepressants when suffering from kidney stones,doctor said that my being nervous about the pain was a sign of depression…..
Afghan and Iraq? Pretty sure it was about for them.
Hi there dern ,my fault world wars,you know the one’s when you go or you go and if you can’t go on you are a coward,
One thing I will ad is that maybe the forces could actually help people’s mental health in some ways, for example if one had a bad time growing up the forces could become sort of a new family.. .
Maybe I’m wrong as they refused me back then onphisicle health matters..
See my point further up about how a Nation that is fighting an existential war of survival against a peer opponent is in a very different position to an Army that is at peace and counts it’s annual fatalities on a single hand.
Someone who has had a “bad time growing up” might benefit from the structure and community of the army, but they might also be handed a loaded fire arm that they’ll turn on others and then themselves. During a war where an army is taking thousands of casualties per week, or even per day, that might be a tolerable risk, but not in a peace time army.
Well yes I do see your point, well Said mate 👍
Silliest excuses for top brass not doing their work. Here’s a simple fix: pay everyone £20,000 extra a year. All ranks all roles. How many personnel are there in the British Forces? 140,000? That’s just £3 billion extra, or +5% of the current budget. Don’t tell me the nation can’t afford an extra £3 billion a year in this time of low intensity war.
With that much extra pay, every soldier will have significantly extra incentive to keep themselves physically and mentally fit for the job, and an Army career will be more attractive to recruits of a more suitable physical and mental fitness.
Stretch targets: for every extra annual allocation of £100m above that, one infantry cap badge could be saved, and the Army gets another infantry battalion.
Well, yeah. People aren’t meant to kill people, it’s deeply traumatic and unnatural. We seem to have forgotten that important aspect of warfare in that it’s a failure to think and communicate effectively.
Murdering for a shared cause doesn’t automatically make that cause right or just, but it does make a man a murderer and he has to deal with that after the dust has settled.
It’s not natural – No other animal engages in mass murder and torture like humans do.
War is a wholly human pursuit with chimpanzee gangs coming in a distant second.