Cyber entry scheme mentioned.
Bedroom to the battlefield: How the UK military is embracing gamers and coders Could gamers be the secret weapon of a modern UK military? - BBC News
My son is currently half way through phase 1 at Halton and he tells me the amount of recruits who are under 18 is crazy. Many have only just turned 16 and you can tell by their lack of maturity and outlook on learning. There are quite a few who have been back coursed for simple things and the directing staff even found the room of 16 year olds wrestling on day 4…that went down well as you can imagine. Some even went home after day 2 as they didn’t like being told what to do!
The youth of today really need to gain some life experience before applying for the military or at least know what they are in for when they get to basic.
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This goes some way to explaining how military preparation colleges have become a thing, when they were never something I’d heard of in my youth (with the exception of Welbeck and a couple of public schools).
Do they billet the U18s with the O18s? Because my safeguarding siren is going nuts reading this.
I remember training alongside U18s in the reserves, whilst they were also cadets and I was also a CFAV. I think the peer exception applies to recruits training together, in the same way as applied to O18s in schools and colleges.
Initially no but now they have. I get the feeling they hope that mixing with older recruits would encourage some maturity.
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Yes, all phase one trainees will be in the same accommodation. The safeguarding elements is the fact that they are Phase 1 and not their age.
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NGL, my mind immediately goes to Deepcut.
I wonder how many of the very young recruits are the “Covid” bunch, or close to it?
There were huge differences in maturity / attitude for our recruitment intakes either side of Covid (comparing similar age groups). At least the latter groups have had some “guidance” about acceptable behaviour / attitude that would help them along if they joined up in the near future.
When I went through Swinderby (Jan 1976) as an airman aircrew cadet, there were some “boisterous” recruits who had some strong corrective treatment to put them on the straight & narrow path, the simpler options included running around the parade square several times with an SLR held over the head.
I was made room leader & told in no uncertain terms what standards were expected. Several in our room were on their first time away from home; one couldn’t manage anything ironing / cleaning / sewing / polishing related! He wanted to be a missile technician!! 
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They are.
- Those 16 year olds will be the ones who ended primary school at in Summer 2020 - so missed all the transition stuff; then had Year 7/8 getting all mashed up with go/no go, bubbles, masks, 2ms, online learning etc etc.
- The 17 year olds were the ones who started secondary school in Year 7, and within 6 months the world got turned on its head and didn’t really recover until their Year 9 when they chose the options, 2 years of GCSEs, then “freedom”
Feedback from both Halton and Harrogate is that they are currently experiencing a VERY high rate of attrition. But, even weirder, we’re seeing the same thing in both Further Education Colleges and Sixth forms. Again, lack of resilience - being told off for minor infractions and, rather than deal with it, they throw the toys out of the pram and leave. I’ve seen so many disciplinary meetings in college which should end with a slap on the wrist and “don’t be a mug”. But instead, the young people avoid them and simply stop attending - so they get withdrawn instead.
Just before Christmas the Government FINALLY took our warnings about this tidal wave seriously and released a call for evidence of what is/is not working with this particular cohort.
The current UK NEET figures are substantially higher than the last 10 years - and it’s only going to get worse without some serious investment. At it’s very highest (in recent history) it was 1million young people (July-Sept 2011) - and frankly, i can see that many on the horizon again.
And whereas “Just join the Army” was a thing historically, many of the current bunch simply don’t cut it. Which does make me somewhat concerned if the draft ever happens and everybody gets mobilised!!!
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All makes sense - very similar to stories from some of our local CFAVs who are teachers or TAs, etc.
Who would have guessed that lack of peer contact, school educational progress, developmental feedback, timely corrective action, would have had such an effect? 
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I thought you were committed to 4 weeks once you turned up?
Day 2 is taking the Kings Sovereign. My lad said one lad just stood up and said ‘nope’ and left. The other lad left after the first day.
One went home after failing his fitness test in the first week.
There have been numerous recruits that have been back coursed up to now. It’s sad but if you aren’t used to the discipline required in a learning and personal way then you’ll struggle, in my opinion.
Remember several years ago there was a series following new recruits through RM basic training?
I’d love to see a new Halton version, especially for a recruit literally noping it out of there on Day 2!
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Don’t think it’s a Covid thing but schools don’t allow children to fail. Schools bend over backwards and work very hard to get the child a good GCSE. When they have gone on from school and things get hard, they have to work it out for themselves they can’t they are not prepared for it and they fall over.
This is one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed in society too; the belief that failure is someone else’s fault instead of a necessary part of success.
Trouble with the schools is that their already insufficient funding is based upon the successes of the students, so it becomes an existential issue if students aren’t passing - regardless of any external factors. This has built the ideology that it’s the responsibility of the teachers (both in the school sense and outside, such as in training) to get the students to pass rather than the students & parents taking the self-responsibility to be at the right standard with the right attitude and approach.
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Unfortunately happens everywhere
Even in the 80s had an Airman arrive on Unit that had us all going ‘how the hell did he get here?’
Basically Phase 1 passed him so he became a Trade Training problem, Trade Training passed him so he became a Unit problem that we had to sort out.
They got their numbers through - we had to deal with the aftermath
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I’ve sacked 2 probationers at work who never should’ve got anywhere near the street, as you say people moving on a problem.
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Why am I reminded of certain senior leaders in military-related contexts…?
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