Despite the growing death toll in Afghanistan, a combination of unemployment and aggressive advertising is pushing a record number of young men in Scotland to join the army.
The newspaper Scotland on Sunday yesterday (19 July 2009) reported what military recruiters are calling a "breathtaking" 366 per cent rise in recruitment as the young are drawn rather than repelled by the "trials of combat" - according to those whose job is to get them to sign up.
However, readers of the paper and peace campaigners are much more sceptical about the situation, with one correspondent from Dundee declaring: "Unemployment [among] unskilled, young, under-privileged men makes up the bulk of the huge increase in recruits... [it is] feeding the supply-chain for the front line - those who make up the vast number of fatalities... If we were in full employment the story would be very different. Right now it's the army or nothing, effectively."
According to the newspaper, the number of Scots joining the army in the first three months of the year has shot up from 27 in 2008 to 99 in 2009.
Army recruiters say that the rush to join up seems largely unaffected by the grim death toll in Afghanistan and the growing row between the government and the military over resources for troops.
A recent national opinion poll showed that the majority of Britons continued to oppose their country's involvement in the war in Afghanistan, despite the government's concerted attempt to boost its policy through Armed Forces Day and a coordinated military media blitz.
However, the number of those supporting the presence of British troops has also increased slightly in the last four years and this was used a fortnight ago in dramatic headlines claiming public sanction for the action.
On Thursday last week, a British soldier from 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol near Gereshk in Helmand. During the previous week, eight soldiers were killed in a 24-hour period.
In total, 185 British troops have died in Afghanistan, more than those who lost their lives in Iraq - though far fewer than in the 1982 Malvinas-Falklands conflict.
Now army chiefs say the publicity surrounding military operations in Afghanistan is attracting, rather than deterring, youngsters – although they also acknowledge that the recession has also had a major impact.
Unemployment in Scotland has reached a ten-year high with 179,000 people out of work.
Brigadier David Allfrey, head of 51st Scottish Brigade, said: "I have talked to a lot of young people over the last 24 months and I have been astonished at the readiness of those seeking to join the profession... they absolutely understand what they think the trials of combat are and are signing up to do that."
Describing the increase in recruitment as "breathtaking", he added: "We must be the only employer anywhere in Scotland doing that sort of level."
The army has been accused of particularly targeting vulnerable, working-class young people in the most deprived areas of Scotland.
Brigadier Allfrey admitted currently running an army contact point in the Shettleston and Easterhouse areas of Glasgow, which, he said "was not a recruitment office but was a place where you go and get a jaffa cake and a cup of coffee".
Asked if that amounted to "grooming" potential candidates he replied: "Yes... I suppose it is."
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