My 16 year old son joined the Army last weekend. He chose one of the combat arms. For the past 6-12 months we have had lengthy discussions on all aspects of Army life including, naturally, the possibility of killing or being killed. He has researched thoroughly. He has attended acquaint courses. He has read widely on the subject. He has spoken to those who know about the Army from having served in it.

He (not his parents) weighed up the pros and cons and decided that the Army offerd him a chance to do something which he felt worth doing - serving his country.

David Gee insults the intelligence of those who make the decision to join the Armed Forces. Luckily for him, today's military and ther predecessors have made sacrifices so that unimformed pseudo-intellectuals like him have the feredom to write such drivel - and not be imprisoned for it, as might be the case in may parts of the world.

Winston de Sousa , London,

It would be illustrative to have a report on religious recruitment which is pursued insidiously from the moment of birth.

Peter Birbeck, Bournemouth, UK

If the adverts said "join us and we will train you to kill people" these people that write these reports will be complaining about the shocking messages sent to young people about the army.. Do they not think with 24 hours news channels, Internet, Papers,computer games, etc etc that the people reading these adverts do not know that people that join the army might kill or be killed..?? As if on your first day of joining the penny will suddenly drop !! so thats what the gun thing does!!! these people who write these reports do not live in the same world !!!!

jimmy, Manila, Philippines

Oh for God's sake!

Can anyone REALLY be stupid enough to think that joining the forces at the moment does NOT involve the possibility of being shouted and shot at?

Looks as though the state's not the only organisation playing at being people's nanny.

Kevin Browne, Reading, ENGLAND

Obviously, soldiers have been put to war within a political agenda throughout history. They are put to fight with all the attendant risks in situations and for causes with which they may completely disagree. Many of us have liked to think that we would fight for freedom, 'democracy' etc. but one does not need to look far beneath the surface to see that the wars our troops have been put to are motivated primarily by economic agendas rather than the more passionately motivated causes of human rights. The terrible unattended urgencies of situations such as Darfur or Zimbabwe serve only to highlight the hypocrisies of our economically motivated war machines. It is shameful the way in which our soldiers (who are after all our families and children) have been used to serve the twisted agendas of those who have neither the courage nor the conviction to put themselves at risk in any armed conflict or service to their countries - ie. Bush & Blair. Not enough space here to illuminate the crime

Demmy James, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

British soldiers have never been accorded the respect, rewards or support that they have deserved. The VERY poor wages of the average 'squaddy' only serve to highlight this continued disrespect. It can only be hoped that this abuse of one of our most precious resources (those who are prepared to die and suffer virtually without question) will one day no longer be allowed in the light of their current and previous misuses and exploitations. Here's to the day when those who would send soldiers to die for spurious reasons will never be allowed to do so again.

Demmy James, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

too much time spent on video games and not enough on education.

Phil Barnes, preston, england

This report is false. First the Rowntree Trust was set up to "further the views and objectives of a Quaker Pacifist". Pacifists rarely have anything good to say about the military.
Second why don't the Rowntree Trust demand that all McDonalds adverts show a fat kid dieing of obesity or Famous Grouse adverts show a 30 year old with severe liver disease? It is simply because the Rowntree Trust have such anti-military views.

An 18 year old I know put it rather succinctly.

'If they don't know after all these hundreds of years that soldiers can get killed, they don't deserve sympathy.'

Which is perfectly true. You would have to be a blind, deaf and dumb nun if you didn't know what happens in the army. Do people not watch the news for example. All other professions sugercoat jobs do they not? I have never seen a job advertisement for an office position admitting that you may be bored sitting in a small office for many hours a day.

Alex, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

I agree with the report and find it disgusting that the attempts to entice children and young adults include viral advertising etc without discussing the ethical implications behind recruitment. The fact that an Xbox controller is featured in the new viral style commercials depicting a soldier controlling a UAV while watching ground troops on video monitors directly references video game culture and would attract younger audiences. I can understand the need to increase our troop levels at a time of great political and economic uncertainty however the issues surrounding these situations need to be discussed not to mention the significance of the moral issues the recruits would face.

Ben Saunders, London, London

The Army' is 'marketing' for recruits - very young and impressionable people. As with most marketing the product does match up to thhe reality of what it actually is or (in this case) entails. Severe fighting in Afghanistan could be described as a holiday in he sun with lots of physical and mental exercises. The army's advertising is grossly immoral, innacurate and dangerous. Why don't they include in their advertising campaign film of the fighting, interviews with the soldiers themselves, wounded colleagues and the bereaved families of those killed .....and then a government minister?

Rodney Barker, Gainsborough, England UK

I think the reason why the recruitment material is vague about the reality is due to the fact that they don't want to attract the politically correct ire of those such as the JR Foundation.

I guarantee that the recruitment process does not shy away from the reality. This report focuses on glossy brochures - who on earth reads glossy brochures? I suspect that the JR researchers are imposing their own naivety onto the thousands of recruits - of course recruits know the reality.

Nick, Brighton,

The Army ads have never stressed active service. I was a soldier in the sixties and early seventies and the ads then were all about scuba-diving with bikini clad girls. We didn't believe them then and I don't think today's youth are fooled either. I am now an English teacher in a school that has an ACF and a high number of pupils joining the Forces. The kids have YouTube videos to show them the real Forces, Don't worry about it!

A Watkins-Groves, Lincoln, UK,

Sir,
Sorry to appear cynical but the decision to sell off Deepcut Barracks to be used as a housing estate has NOTHING to do with improving Army Training! It is yet another example of the Government 'selling off the family silver' with the knowledge that they will not be in power long enough to suffer the consequences.
There is a similar plan in progress to sell off TA centres across the country.
Such 'short term' politics MUST be stopped if we are to retain any sort of viable Armed Forces. Decisions of this type must be governed by military needs alone and not made by a 'grey suited' accountant.
After 18 years in the army, now a Commanding Officer, I am at the point of resigning because the Armed Forces in this country simply do not get the financial support that they NEED in order to do the job that they are excected to do.
Prime Minister, either give us the financial support to do the job, or stop picking fights with people and expecting us to do your dirty work!

George, London, UK

Every nation has the duty to be able to protect itself and more important to show sufficient military strength to deter others from attacking it. Military personnel are an essential part of that deterrent and it pains many, especially those of us who can remember WW2 where Britain was in great danger of being invaded and especially as the politicians in the 1930s had weakened the military to such an extent that even the Home Guard only had garden implements to fight with at first.

I joined the Cadet Training Corps, the RAF part, at the age of 12 yrs, two years officially too young but I was very keen, and ended up completing 13 years with the three year training course, and I have never regretted it. The problem is can today's youth cope with the necessary discipline? I doubt it.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

I'm sure any smart lawyer could sue the army for mis-representation and fraud.

Stephen, St. Ives, England