Saturday, June 10, 2006

 

Moral Dilemma of the Day

Of the members of the British Infantry and Royal Artillery regiments now offered £1,300 [$2400] to get their friends to join—

What happens if a young boy gets his friend to sign up to go to Iraq and he gets killed. He will have to live with that for the rest of his life. —Rose Gentle, mother of Gordon, killed at 19 in Iraq, as quoted by Ben Russell

The British, like the Americans, are having recruiting shortfalls—

The Army and the Royal Artillery were well below their targets for new recruits last year. There were 2,110 new infantry recruits last year, well below the target of 2,830. The Artillery attracted 580 recruits, despite a target to sign 800 new soldiers.

Latest figures show the Army remains below strength, despite a steady reduction in the planned size of the forces in recent years. There were 88,450 in the Army's other ranks, nearly 2,000 down on full strength, although the officer corps was up on its planned numbers.

So last year they offered a bounty for recruits, and now they're going to up it—

Bounties worth £650 [$1200] were introduced last autumn to combat a "recruiting shortfall" the Ministry of Defence said. The scheme produced 110 recruits, so senior officers decided to rerun the scheme this summer, starting this month, doubling the bounty to £1,300 for each recruit who passes basic training.

There are few events that could horrify a young man or woman more than to feel responsible for the death of a friend. If they really need the money, they might try recruiting their worst enemies.

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