Army Recruitment

Last year 44 UK soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and many more were maimed. 21 serving soldiers and 29 veterans committed suicide.
As you know, a peasant can only see the soldier as his enemy, and far from regarding these young men as heroes, I see them as fools, the tools of powerful vested interests.
So, who are these heroic fools, these young warriors whose bodies are the food and drink of the military machine?
The vast majority are working class. Many of them are little more than children when they are recruited and many of them have the lowest educational attainments.
All their lives they have been at the butt end of the hierarchy that sends them off to kill and be killed.
28% of Army recruits are under the age of 18.
That is, over a quarter of recruits are legally children, between the ages of 16 and 17.
The minimum entry level for English and Maths is level entry 2, that is the level of numeracy and literacy expected of an eight year old.
39% of recruits, that is almost two fifths, have the reading level of an eleven year old.
38% have the mathematical skills of an eleven year old.
Oh yes, the vast majority are male. Where it comes to being maimed and killed boys still have all the advantages.