The army has been accused of manipulating teenage soldiers by spoonfeeding them identikit quotes to be used in local and regional newspaper articles extolling life in the military.
Child Soldiers International, a charity that campaigns against the recruitment of under-18s to the armed forces, noticed that graduates of the Army Foundation College (AFC) had spoken of their sense of achievement in exactly the same upbeat terms in dozens of newspaper reports.
“Graduating from AFC Harrogate in front of my friends and family is something that I am very proud of doing. I’m now looking forward to the next stage of my army career,” a number of young men and women were quoted as saying.
“As a junior soldier you learn core life skills such as leadership, teamwork and determination. I have made loads of friends and met new people, and have become much more confident in my own ability.”
Precisely the same quotes have been used in local newspaper articles about graduates across the UK from the south of England to Scotland since 2015.
Tactics for the recruitment of teenage soldiers is a sensitive issue. The Guardian revealed last year that the army had been specifically targeting young people from working-class backgrounds in a glossy television campaign.
Rachel Taylor, the director of programmes at Child Soldiers International, said: “It has always been evident that army recruitment campaigns portray an unrealistic and highly edited version of military life.
“It’s still shocking, however, to see that this manipulation extends to dictating word for word statements for the press, and presenting these to the public as apparently spontaneous and free remarks.
“The young recruits and families we work with tell a very different story about their experiences in the armed forces, but military law prevents them from speaking out publicly.”
The government said in a parliamentary answer last month that its recruitment campaigns had not included any paid-for print advertising in regional papers in the last three years.
It has, however, been a clear PR technique to offer images of AFC graduates with identical quotes to local and regional papers.
The Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “The armed forces have a duty, like all public organisations, to be transparent. They are responsible for the lives of thousands of soldiers, many of whom are young people, and they must be honest about the experiences these soldiers have.
“We know the armed forces are running a campaign to recruit more young people, and these young people must be able to make informed decisions based on truthful information provided to them.
“Child recruits are more vulnerable than adult recruits to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse and even suicide. The UK government must urgently review its policy on enlisting children.”
The army is embarrassed at being caught out. It insists the articles are not recruitment adverts but pieces based on PR releases sent out by local press officers that papers could choose whether or not to use. Soldiers were not obliged to take part, and many chose not to. A source put the duplication down to laziness.
A spokesperson said: “Junior soldier graduates volunteer to participate in these articles and are right to be extremely proud of their achievements.”
AFC Harrogate hit the headlines in March when it emerged that 28 recruits aged 16 and 17 had claimed they were assaulted and abused by instructors during a battle camp. The case against the instructors collapsed.