This applies to army recruitment in pretty much every country around the world that has an active military, including Canada and the United States.
Introduction
Each year the British armed forces enlist over 2,000 children aged 16 and 17, mostly for the army and particularly for the infantry; more new army recruits are 16 than any other age. The United Kingdom (UK) is the only State in Europe and among only a few worldwide allowing enlistment at age 16.
Recruits are no longer routinely sent to war until they turn 18, but the impact of military employment at a young age, particularly on recruits from a stressful childhood background, has raised numerous human rights and public health concerns. Among those to express concern have been the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the children’s commissioners for the four jurisdictions of the UK, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Young army recruits tend to come from particularly deprived backgrounds
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not collect information about the
socioeconomic profile of armed forces personnel. Nonetheless, our research
has found that army recruits under the age of 18 come disproportionately
from England’s poorest constituencies. During a five-year period, the rate of
recruitment in the age group was 57 percent higher in the most deprived fifth of constituencies than the least deprived. Recruitment was concentrated in the poorest regions, particularly urban fringe areas of the north of the country.
Research by King’s College London further shows that a troubled childhood is common among army personnel (irrespective of age), while official data show that the youngest recruits tend to have severely underdeveloped literacy. Childhood adversity and poor literacy are both well-attested statistical indicators of socioeconomic deprivation.
The army focuses recruitment in the poorest parts of society
Using official sources, our research has shown that army recruitment is
targeted at the UK’s poorest towns and cities, particularly neighbourhoods
where annual family income is around £10,000.
The army targets the youngest age group for the riskiest army jobs
The army’s rationale for targeting 16-year-olds for recruitment is to
compensate for shortfalls in adult recruitment, “particularly for the infantry”;
the close-combat troops. Its own research confirms that a lack of economically viable civilian opportunities is one of the main factors driving enlistment for the infantry, which can be joined without any qualifications. The army’s youngest recruits are therefore substantially over-represented there.
The infantry carries the greatest risks in war. In Afghanistan, British infantry troops were six times as likely to be killed as personnel in the rest of the army, and in the Iraq and Afghanistan era, they were twice as likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Relative to the rest of the army, infantry training is basic and, according to veterans, more brutalising, with twice the drop-out rate among trainees, at approximately 35 percent.