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Not sure how it worked but my friend "joined" the army at 16, not sure what the contractual obligation was but he went to an Army College to do his A-Levels, then they put him through Uni doing Civil Engineering and then in to Sandringham for Office training before an eventual couple of tours of Afghanistan. As teens we were all fairly jealous of him as he always had loads of money and his school holidays seems to be going to Canada, Norway, UK National parks doing adventurous stuff. Went to visit him once at uni and he was in a flat and all the flat mates were in the same boat. All his food, accommodation, uni fees etc. were covered.
greentricky-
Good deal until you have to go kill people that other people decide should be killed.
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'.....Sandringham for Office training......'
I think that you meant Sandhurst?
Sandringham is a residence used by the Queen.
Open as a stately house when the Queen is elsewhere.
Seen plenty of gardeners, cleaning staff, police, but never any soldiers.
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Canada is already preparing replacement barrels for the M777s. Getting lots of use.
snottyotter
dr_nosh
davidual
I'd like to know more about those signing up as 16 year olds. I bet they are predominantly from disadvantaged backgrounds which makes the army one of few options. If they join as an apprentice at 16 they should not be committed to serve until they are 22. Under the current system once they have served for 6 months they can't voluntarily leave earlier, even if they are still a minor.
I'm sure there are lots of 16 year olds for which joining the army was the best thing they ever did but there are others who change their mind, are still a minor and are stuck.