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Too young to fight for your country?

Jennifer Tracey | 11:05 UK time, Monday, 27 July 2009

SA80 A2 rifle

One iPM listener writes:

'My son is 17 and half way through training with the Royal Marines. He's going on holiday to Turkey this summer with friends and needs a letter from me as he's not old enough to travel outside the EU without parental permission.

Compare this to the fact that he is likely to be on the front line in Afghanistan within the next 6 months! He may be exceptionally well-trained but is he really old enough for it?'

Should we be sending soldiers into combat at the age of eighteen? Perhaps you work with young recruits or have some experience / insight that you can share. If so, please do leave a comment below or email us.


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  • 1. At 2:01pm on 09 Aug 2009, sweetjpeters wrote:

    <RICHPOST> To be honest, I think he´s really to young to be in the frontline. My brother was 19, when he was in the army and he often told us, that it´s like a big game. The are playing with guns and tanks etc. but they don´t really think about beeing in a war.<BR /><a hraef="[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]">Jenni`s Home</RICHPOST>

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