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New research from SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, reveals outdated misconceptions of the modern-day military are having a concerning impact on public support for the Forces. The findings, commissioned for Armed Forces Day, show over a third of the UK do not actively support the Armed Forces, rising to 48% for those aged 16–34.
In 1916, a young British private in northern France wrote home to his parents explaining his decision to take his own life. A survivor of the early days of the Somme, considered one of the most brutal battles of World War I, Robert Andrew Purvis apologised to his family before praising his commanding officers and offering the remainder of his possessions to his comrades. Purvis’s surviving suicide note remains one of the only documents of its kind from World War I.
Understanding military personnel statistics
There are three main ways to measure the number of military personnel (also known as strength): the total full-time UK Armed Forces, total full-time trained UK Armed Forces, or the total full-time UK Regular Forces.
The total full-time UK Armed Forces is the most comprehensive of the three measures. It comprises trained and untrained members of the UK Regular Forces, Gurkhas, and full-time reserve service personnel (FTRS).
The total full-time trained UK Armed Forces is perhaps the most important measure as this is what the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (2015 SDSR) personnel targets are based on.
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reflects on the care provided by the NHS Veterans’ Clinic in London, also known as the Veterans’ Mental Health Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS).
Alcohol has historically been used in the UK armed forces to encourage bonding and to deal with difficult experiences. And while alcohol use is now on the decline, harmful drinking in the forces is still double that of the general population.
The British armed forces recruit around 2,300 16- and 17-year-olds each year, of whom four-fifths join the army. This briefing sets out the case for a minimum enlistment age of 18 on grounds of the health, welfare, and rights of minors, and outlines the economic and military benefits of transition to all-adult armed forces.
LGBT equality charity Stonewall has placed the naval service in 15th place on this year’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, which lists the nation’s top 100 organisations…
The British Army has launched the third and final instalment of its three year ‘Belonging’ campaign, designed to raise awareness and get young people to consider joining the army for the first time.
The government recently announced that it would be relaxing the rules for Commonwealth citizens wishing to join the UK’s armed forces with the aim of increasing the number of Commonwealth recruits to around 1,350 a year.
