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Fred Bloggs
Guest
Frontline troops are 'unfit and illiterate'
By Paul Waugh Deputy Political Editor, Evening Standard
10 November 2004
Unfit, near-illiterate recruits are being given frontline roles in
Britain's armed forces because of a desperate lack of manpower, a
damning report has found.
A Ministry of Defence review showed that the fighting strength of the
Army, Royal Navy and RAF is being put in jeopardy by pressure to pass
out as many recruits as possible.
The study reveals that 70 per cent of trainees in one camp had "a
reading age of an 11-year-old or younger". Other recruits who failed
tests, including the military swimming test, were being passed onto
frontline units.
The report adds that binge drinking is so severe in some places that a
weekday ban on alcohol is being introduced.
The findings are sure to be seized on by the Tories as proof that "
overstretch" and low recruitment is resulting in pressure to lower
standards.
The investigation, triggered by deaths at the Deepcut barracks in
Surrey, featured visits to 12 training units and interviews with more
than 1,200 trainees and 300 instructors.
"A widely-held concern of the instructorswas that they were passing on
risk to the frontline," the report says.
"Some instructors report that they are under pressure to pass on as many
candidates as possible and that quality is often sacrificed to quantity."
The ministry specifically highlights "a failure to apply rigorously the
military skills and physical fitness entry and exit standards".
The report criticises the lack of competitive sport and failure to
provide enough food. Access to alcohol was another problem, with too
many trainees drunk and ill-disciplined. Commanding officers felt the
impact of drinking was "an unwelcome burden".
All black African recruits to Britain's armed forces face being screened
for HIV and Hepatitis B after it emerged that the infections are being
transmitted between trainees. An MoD report found that screening may
have to be introduced because recruits were having sex with each other.
By Paul Waugh Deputy Political Editor, Evening Standard
10 November 2004
Unfit, near-illiterate recruits are being given frontline roles in
Britain's armed forces because of a desperate lack of manpower, a
damning report has found.
A Ministry of Defence review showed that the fighting strength of the
Army, Royal Navy and RAF is being put in jeopardy by pressure to pass
out as many recruits as possible.
The study reveals that 70 per cent of trainees in one camp had "a
reading age of an 11-year-old or younger". Other recruits who failed
tests, including the military swimming test, were being passed onto
frontline units.
The report adds that binge drinking is so severe in some places that a
weekday ban on alcohol is being introduced.
The findings are sure to be seized on by the Tories as proof that "
overstretch" and low recruitment is resulting in pressure to lower
standards.
The investigation, triggered by deaths at the Deepcut barracks in
Surrey, featured visits to 12 training units and interviews with more
than 1,200 trainees and 300 instructors.
"A widely-held concern of the instructorswas that they were passing on
risk to the frontline," the report says.
"Some instructors report that they are under pressure to pass on as many
candidates as possible and that quality is often sacrificed to quantity."
The ministry specifically highlights "a failure to apply rigorously the
military skills and physical fitness entry and exit standards".
The report criticises the lack of competitive sport and failure to
provide enough food. Access to alcohol was another problem, with too
many trainees drunk and ill-disciplined. Commanding officers felt the
impact of drinking was "an unwelcome burden".
All black African recruits to Britain's armed forces face being screened
for HIV and Hepatitis B after it emerged that the infections are being
transmitted between trainees. An MoD report found that screening may
have to be introduced because recruits were having sex with each other.
