How old to join the Army

Should 16 year old's be able to join the army:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22259982

Heard that on the Radio on the way home, personally I think no, at 16 it is too young IMO.

I know a few young lads you joined the army and got sent away and found it very hard to deal with normal life when they got back.

I know it can be the same with older men but at 16 I don't feel you are ready personally.

At 16 you are not old enough to vote, yet you could possibly die for your country, this must be wrong.

i think there should be NS for 16 years old > all kids that dont get a job or go to uni should be sent in the army and let them knock some common sense in these kids today becasue they parents are doing crap job at it

i think National Service will eventually will have to be bought back for young kids.

it would solved a lot of our society problems

Nah, I think it should be 18. Don't believe anybody should be forced to join and certainly not when they're still blowing snot bubbled out of their noses.

come and live in rough place I'm sure you would change your mind another 10/15 years it be just the same where you living now i be really bet all my money on it

I think they're too young there not emotionally mature enough. my friends soon has joined up at 16 & been told if he's injured prior to turning 18 then there would be no compensation or MOD support. I think it should be 18

Isn't exactly a nice place here Steve!

but you dont have 16 / 15 running around shotguns do you

Steve wrote:i think there should be NS for 16 years old > all kids that dont get a job or go to uni should be sent in the army and let them knock some common sense in these kids today becasue they parents are doing crap job at it

I absolutely, completely 100% agree with this.

Also, I was 16 when I joined up, didn't do me any harm at all - although in fairness I wasn't a little pansy at 16 and I knew exactly what I was letting myself in for as my old man had been in the army most of his life too.

Steve wrote: but you dont have 16 / 15 running around shotguns do you

Well, no, it isn't that bad. But I sure wouldn't be happy with those little sods being responsible for defending our country!

I knew a fella who joined young and found himself a victim of bullying whilst sent out and because of that and I'm sure the stress of the whole thing over there he hung himself.

He was no pansy either

i know a couple sods who went in the army and they are nice people now becasue they get common sense knock in them. yes it wont 100% fix our society but it be 100% better then it is now

Kathy wrote:At 16 you are not old enough to vote, yet you could possibly die for your country, this must be wrong.

Just to clarify - no under 18s are sent into combat, but remain in supporting roles until they're old enough.

Israel as national service if they wasn't in a dodgy place in this world and they speak English i would move their without second thought

I think it should be down to the individual. Some 16 year olds are more mature that some 25 year olds and some aren't. Like already said they aren't going to be sent into battle but will be better equipped when sent into battle at 18 or 19 than they are now.

I certaily don't think they should be sent without choice at any age especially at 16

so lad/girls who dont want to work who rather rod your mum/grandad then do something good with their life shouldn't be made to do 5 year of national service

I certainly agree that National Service of some degree should be brought back but maybe only for the kids without jobs etc. However , I don't agree that they should be put into warzones . This should be left up to the people that have really taken the queen's shilling and know what to expect . If some of these NS kids wanted to sign up then great but we shouldn't use it to build up out forces

yea they should never be made to go to war that be upto the person

I think the forces are a good leveller for a lot of people , they can take the shy ones and make them confident and take the idiots and make them understand there are bigger and tougher and how to be part of the group rather than the leader, but there will always be that elite few that do 3 years and think they can take on the world

yes it wont fix all our society problem

but what would you rather have

16 year old acting like 2 pac's who think they can take on everyone

or older people act like the krays who keep people in check

i know what i rather see

Steve wrote:yes it wont fix all our society problem

but what would you rather have

16 year old acting like 2 pac's who think they can take on everyone

or older people act like the krays who keep people in check

i know what i rather see

I totally agree Steve in some respects , if you can't knuckle down and get a job or a good education then put them on NS but not to war and it will help out in at least 75% of cases , it doesn't matter what we do there will always be "those people"

you always going get people who going break the law but there a lot of people who need the kick up the backside to sort them out... that isn't getting and that why places are getting worse talking to them is not going fix the problem..

Steve wrote:yea they should never be made to go to war that be upto the person

The age of 16 is far too young and if you spend all of the money and time to invest in training a Soldier that isn't going to fight it is a waste of money that could be spent on training the people who want to be there. If given a choice of going to war or not most sane people won't go so that's more wasted money. The military shouldn't be responsible for instiling values and disclpline in the youth that responsibilty is on the parents.

Well you can work at 16, but I think really 18 would be better.

Sazzle wrote:Well you can work at 16, but I think really 18 would be better.

Working a regualr job and joining the military are very different. In the military you are often working 12 hour plus days in dangerous conditions and are far away from home for long periods of time and most 16 year olds can't handle that. You also can't just call in sick or quit.

jstaff wrote:

Steve wrote:yea they should never be made to go to war that be upto the person

The age of 16 is far too young and if you spend all of the money and time to invest in training a Soldier that isn't going to fight it is a waste of money that could be spent on training the people who want to be there. If given a choice of going to war or not most sane people won't go so that's more wasted money. The military shouldn't be responsible for instiling values and disclpline in the youth that responsibilty is on the parents.

if the parents are not doing this who is going to do?

becasue the usa and uk and other country going to get to point where something has to be done about it or we are going end up like some africa countries

There are other options like reform school run by exmilitary to instill discipline and a host of other alternatives just not with live weapons and training people to kill. It costs over 200k to a Soldier and that's just the basic skills to survive. When you get into other areas of expertise the investment is over a million dollars per Soldier.

Countries like Isreal and South Korea do it because their location and political reality force them to do so. There is also a large sense of national pride there because of the threat that doesn't exist in other countries.

my national service wouldn't be about training people to kill

Mate we are talking like the first lines not the second

Discipline and never trust a 16 yr old with a loaded weapon, never any disrespect to todays military just a way of sorting out the yob culture and retaining some ood old military skills a little longer

Steve wrote:my national service wouldn't be about training people to kill

Everyone in the miltary recieves this training other than medics and chaplins which both require extensive schooling.

Dave wrote:Mate we are talking like the first lines not the second

Discipline and never trust a 16 yr old with a loaded weapon, never any disrespect to todays military just a way of sorting out the yob culture and retaining some ood old military skills a little longer

There are no second lines anymore. Warfare has changed and everywhere in a warzone is attacked so people have to defend themselves.

we not talking about trainning people to kill we talking about knocking some common sense in the youth today

Steve wrote:we not talking about trainning people to kill we talking about knocking some common sense in the youth today

That is what the military is designed to do. Using it for anything else degrades its effectiveness and will cause the best people to leave as well as wasting time and resources.

I do think a military style school or rehabilitation center for youths is a good idea and has had some success in the US. They can have constant supervison and learn disclipine that way.