Why do men and women join the Army? What does it mean to be a British Soldier? What gives these men and women purpose? What makes a soldier sacrifice their lives to defend the realm? How can we continue to recruit these men and women into our Armed Forces? It is beyond the scope of this essay to answer all these questions, as these are complex subjects, not least because soldiering is a multi-faceted profession and a unique way of life. This essay will approach from the perspective of what young men and women need in jobs, career and vocation, and how to effectively exploit measures to attract these individuals into the Army.
“The soldier is the Army. No Army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country” (George S Patton, 1947)
The history of joining or recruitment for the Army dates back to 1754 (Chandler, 2003) and various iterations of these processes have occurred over the last two centuries up to and including the current method. The iterations of the recruitment processes have based upon two key areas; volunteers and conscription also known as National Service, with the last Serviceman being released from National Service in 1963. During both the first and second world wars, recruitment was driven by patriotism; ‘for King and Country’ (Kitchener, 1914), between the wars and still used today the British Army his recruited soldiers through attractions such as ‘to play sport and travel the world’ (MOD.UK, 2015). The recruitment of soldiers has taken various appearances from posters, individuals on the street, radio and television adverts and to new methods of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The recruitment process has adapted to the current climate but possibly not to the needs of the individual, therefore, what do young people want from a job or career? Based upon a study by Case Foundation, 2014 many young people look firstly at what the company does, how it operates and functions, with the majority investigating the social benefits within the company. The social benefit allows the individual to give their talents, skills and assets; these potential soldiers believe that they can give their time, talents and skills to a cause in which they believe. They will look and seek out opportunities and enjoy gainfully being volunteered in order to be socially involved. The Army should look to attracting and retaining young people by looking at opportunities to put their skills and talents towards cause work or projects and initiatives that help people and communities, not just from operational and standing tasks perspective, but something closer to home which could provide deeper patriotism and strengthen the bond between the individual, country and Army. Another strand to the employment of young people is based upon their personal boundaries between personal and professional work; the lines between friends and co-workers are now somewhat blurred, with young people wanting to feel at home within their place of work and peer groups this giving them team member relationship. The Army has historically has been known to be a family (Quote). This seems to have been lost during recent times, potentially due to the amount of operations and time apart as a cohesive unit but due to the fragmentation of units deployed overseas this has decreased. With the Army’s move to contingency framework, and the vast amount of personnel returning to the UK, should create a normalisation period to re-establish relationships in and out of barracks, and bring together the Army family once again. Being able to recognise the needs of young people will all us to adapt, but does provide the needs give …show more content…
In the lives of everyone the mission is to be happy and productive, the key to this is employment satisfaction. While at first the job may not influence on the overall outlook of life, it could be changed into a career of dreams with the correct guidance and support. While it is not the responsibility of the Army to ensure every soldier is completely satisfied with their employment, if we enable the individual to take personal responsibility by understanding the ingredients to their futures; this will only benefit the Army by employing satisfied and motivated
“The soldier is the Army. No Army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country” (George S Patton, 1947)
The history of joining or recruitment for the Army dates back to 1754 (Chandler, 2003) and various iterations of these processes have occurred over the last two centuries up to and including the current method. The iterations of the recruitment processes have based upon two key areas; volunteers and conscription also known as National Service, with the last Serviceman being released from National Service in 1963. During both the first and second world wars, recruitment was driven by patriotism; ‘for King and Country’ (Kitchener, 1914), between the wars and still used today the British Army his recruited soldiers through attractions such as ‘to play sport and travel the world’ (MOD.UK, 2015). The recruitment of soldiers has taken various appearances from posters, individuals on the street, radio and television adverts and to new methods of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The recruitment process has adapted to the current climate but possibly not to the needs of the individual, therefore, what do young people want from a job or career? Based upon a study by Case Foundation, 2014 many young people look firstly at what the company does, how it operates and functions, with the majority investigating the social benefits within the company. The social benefit allows the individual to give their talents, skills and assets; these potential soldiers believe that they can give their time, talents and skills to a cause in which they believe. They will look and seek out opportunities and enjoy gainfully being volunteered in order to be socially involved. The Army should look to attracting and retaining young people by looking at opportunities to put their skills and talents towards cause work or projects and initiatives that help people and communities, not just from operational and standing tasks perspective, but something closer to home which could provide deeper patriotism and strengthen the bond between the individual, country and Army. Another strand to the employment of young people is based upon their personal boundaries between personal and professional work; the lines between friends and co-workers are now somewhat blurred, with young people wanting to feel at home within their place of work and peer groups this giving them team member relationship. The Army has historically has been known to be a family (Quote). This seems to have been lost during recent times, potentially due to the amount of operations and time apart as a cohesive unit but due to the fragmentation of units deployed overseas this has decreased. With the Army’s move to contingency framework, and the vast amount of personnel returning to the UK, should create a normalisation period to re-establish relationships in and out of barracks, and bring together the Army family once again. Being able to recognise the needs of young people will all us to adapt, but does provide the needs give …show more content…
In the lives of everyone the mission is to be happy and productive, the key to this is employment satisfaction. While at first the job may not influence on the overall outlook of life, it could be changed into a career of dreams with the correct guidance and support. While it is not the responsibility of the Army to ensure every soldier is completely satisfied with their employment, if we enable the individual to take personal responsibility by understanding the ingredients to their futures; this will only benefit the Army by employing satisfied and motivated