Killer Strategy

New Statesman feature: Britain’s Child Army, by Stephen Armstrong


In this feature, writer Stephen Armstrong investigates how the British Army is attempting to recruit young school leavers by targeting children as young as 14.

Armstrong shows that military personnel are leaving the armed forces in record numbers, while it is also becoming harder to find people willing to enlist. The former, says Armstrong, is being caused by the poor state of equipment and conditions within the armed forces; the latter, by the public perception of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The writer uses quotes from British military personnel to illustrate the situation, then goes on to interview army recruiters to form the body of his piece.

The strength of using the words of army recruiters is that they effectively make Armstrong’s point for him. They explain in great detail that the army goes out of its way to indoctrinate young children before they even start considering a career. Most telling is a phrase from Colonel David Allfrey:

“It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, ‘that looks great.’ From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip.”

The quote condenses Armstrong’s article perfectly: The military is attempting to drip-feed Britain’s youngsters into wanting to join the army, before they’ve learned to think for themselves. Armstrong cleverly ends the piece by saying:

“What changes will desperation force on the British Army, whose ten-year recruitment strategy begins with a seven-year-old boy?”

Armstrong demonstrates how it is possible to create a thought-provoking and engaging piece, through effective use of interviews and excellent story structure.

[264 words]