**Content warning: this article contains references to suicide and sexual violence**.
Multiple cases have emerged in recent years concerning the suicides of under-18 army recruits, such as the tragic case of Jaysley Beck in 2021 and three young soldiers who took their lives in 2020. Awfully, these deaths are not isolated incidents, but reflect the deeply concerning conditions among under-18s who join the British armed forces.
Child Rights International Network (CRIN) have been at the forefront of analysing the link between teen recruitment and suicide. In their recent report, CRIN reported that individuals who enlist in the army under the age of 18 are three times more likely to die by suicide than their civilian peers from socially deprived backgrounds, and twice as likely as adult joiners to take their own lives. There are numerous factors behind high rates of teen soldier suicides, connected, for example, to adolescent brain development and to the backgrounds these recruits are from.
However, one of the most significant contributors appears to be the training teen recruits receive at the Army Foundation College Harrogate, which campaigners say requires serious reform to preserve the wellbeing of under-18 individuals in the armed forces. Far better, say CRIN and the Green Party, would be for the recruitment age to be raised to 18.
Why are younger recruits at higher risk of suicide?
First, the army actively targets 16–24 year-olds from deprived areas – overwhelmingly in Scotland, Wales and Northern England – to fill unpopular and lowest qualified roles. The CRIN report cites 2010 research showing that schools in the poorest areas were visited by recruiters most often. The report also quotes a senior recruitment officer confirming that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are deliberately targeted. Oftentimes, children from more deprived backgrounds are at higher risk of having adverse childhood experiences, making them more susceptible to pre-existing mental health conditions and trauma.
Shockingly, one of the key factors behind suicides among young recruits appears to relate to the training they receive at the Army Foundation College Harrogate (AFC), which is the only British training centre for army recruits aged between 16 and 17.5 years in the UK. Harrogate has been plagued by accusations of bullying, harassment, battery, and rape. Between 2014–20, 60 complaints were lodged by parents regarding staff engaging in violent behaviour, including sexual assault and battery.
CRIN have uncovered a series of incidents, including routine maltreatment by the staff and a culture of bullying among recruits. Investigations show that young recruits have been kicked, punched, sworn at, and are also pushed to fight one another. Other incidents include extensive ridiculing of recruits and their bodies, and openly talking about fantasies of sexual abuse. Over 2021, there were 47 victims reported to have suffered sexual violence at Harrogate. Over 13 months between July 2022–August 2023, civilian police have investigated 13 sexual offences, including nine rapes at AFC. Gunner Beck was found to have suffered persistent sexual harassment at the hands of her boss, who was an instructor at Harrogate.
These incidents would be deemed unacceptable in any setting, let alone an institution that trains individuals aged 16 to 18. At that age, most children are still attending schools and sixth form colleges. As Jim Patrick Wyke from CRIN said:
“Thirteen sexual offences, including nine cases of rape, in one year is an appalling addition to the long record of serious abuse at the army’s only training centre for 16-year-olds. Any civilian institution with the historical legacy of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse of children would be immediately shut down. That the Army Foundation College remains open is a damning indictment.”
To add to this, as pointed out by CRIN, the adolescent brain is not as developed as adult brains and is, therefore, more vulnerable to stress and trauma, making it harder for young people to recover from the treatment they receive at Harrogate.
Limited qualifications and challenges to reintegration
The challenges that these young recruits face also extend to the reintegration phase. Roughly a third of all teens who enlist in the army end up dropping out. The army recruits them, according to the charity Child Soldiers International, to fill roles that are unpopular and generally more dangerous. Meanwhile, by enlisting, recruits are forced to leave school early. Moreover, the qualifications they receive while they are enlisted are of poorer quality compared to qualifications gained through civilian education. As a result, recruits leave with minimal qualifications, making it difficult for them to reintegrate and exacerbating the mental health crisis they experience.
Lack of government response and solutions
The government could act quickly to prevent further risk of suicide by raising the age of recruitment to 18. Such a policy is the norm in other countries; the UK is the only country in Europe and the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to allow the recruitment of 16-year-olds. Roughly three-quarters of the British public also believe that the recruitment age should be raised to 18.
It would appear the government are reluctant to raise the age of recruitment because roughly a quarter of recruits join before they are 18. With dwindling personnel, it is unsurprising that the Ministry of Defence wants to continue recruiting teens, despite the consequences of their enlistment.
That raises a bigger question: with all of the armed forces falling short on their recruitment targets, and with so many other parts of our society, from the NHS and social care to retail stores and transport firms, facing huge difficulties in finding staff, we need to think about what size of armed forces the UK can maintain.
At the very least, the government should immediately create safer training facilities for junior soldiers and recruits of any age. They must also do more to combat the relentless sexual assault and harassment that occurs, particularly against women, in the British military.
