Sir, Magnus Linklater states that the Army offers to young people the structure that they often lack in their lives (“Only a fool thinks the Army has no place in the classroom”, Comment, March 26).

In recent years I have had the privilege of interviewing young soldiers about their experiences of, and feelings about army life. Not a few, instructors as well as recruits, felt that they had been failures at school. It was apparent that military training was giving them what their primary and secondary education had not. In addition to remedying shortfalls in literacy and numeracy, the Army helps disadvantaged young men and women to gain confidence and develop self-esteem within a very few months of joining. These lifelong benefits stem from what they themselves achieve during training.

To ban army information teams from schools would be to restrict young people’s access to what is recognised widely as some of the best military training in the world.

Anthony Bateman

Wroxham, Norfolk

Sir, It is of no surprise to me that the MoD is facing recruitment problems to all the branches of our Armed Services, since those at that ministry made the decision to cease holding the annual Royal Tournament, at Earls Court in London. The last one was in July 1999. It was warned at that time by many people that this would be a devastating blow to recruitment. The Royal Tournament had been the MoD’s most profound recruiting tool for many years. The faceless decision-makers in Whitehall blew it in a very big way.

John Long

London SW15

Sir, As a teacher with a former career as an army officer I have experienced, on numerous occasions, a bias against the military.

I was once asked by an educational official from the council to explain my absence from teaching in 2002-03, during which time I was serving as a reservist in Bosnia. She told me that “mobilised” and “called up” meant nothing to her because she was in education and not the military.

I now, in conjunction with another former soldier and a superintendent of police, teach the BTEC syllabus for uniformed public services. We aim to educate and enthuse and not recruit. That said, there is a discernible lack of support for our department from the college hierarchy.

The duty of care that Magnus Linklater speaks of is constantly breached by the political correctness that tarnishes so much of our educational system.

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