Armed forces for gap year

The armed forces, not just the Army, offer a huge variety of trades and careers. My cousin joined the Royal Navy in 1978, as the number of apprenticeships in the shipyards was drying up and rhere was no guarantee of a job at the end. He trained to be an engine room artificer, one of the best trades in the Navy, and left after 12 years to work in very well paid engineering roles in the North Sea.

Nothing to do with conscription that will still be an available power if there is a major crisis directly affecting the UK.

This gap year scheme will have appeal to a few, if the limit is 150 that should fill up quickly. My niece joined up at 18 still serving 20 yrs on loves it, visited many countries on exercises and active service.

I think I'd be more concerned if one of my DGC said they wanted to be a politician.

GrannyGravy13

Yes, and those with IT skills are often Head Hunted when they are near the end of their careers in the forces, along with Project Management, Engineers and even catering along with the obvious Security based jobs.

We know a lot of veterans of all the Forces and every one has had an excellent second career, using the skills and education gained during their time in the Forces. Many tend to give their spare time to charities helping other veterans, too.

We do hear about homeless veterans and help is there for them, both through the Forces and voluntary organisations run by ex-service personnel.

Spot on M0nica

Many years ago my DF, an army oficcer, was head hunted for his organisational and management skills and left the army to have a successful career with a large bank - and a comfortable retirement with both a bank and an army pension.

This scheme is not the alternative to other education routes it is aimed as I understood it, at those taking gap years, such as my DGD is currently taking. She is working at a Teaching assistant and also teaching dancing. Both excellent experience for someone who is considering teaching as a career. This coure will be aimed at yougsters who may be considering a military career and its aim will be to give them experience of what is involved so that after their further education, whatever that may be they might consider an army career.

Given the dangerous state of the world today it seems an excellent idea. I for one do not wish to be classed among the helpless lemmings who would rather jump off a cliff than make any attempt to save themselves their families and their country from dictators and tyrants.

Yes, and those with IT skills are often Head Hunted when they are near the end of their careers in the forces, along with Project Management, Engineers and even catering along with the obvious Security based jobs.

GrannyGravy13

We are an army family, still have an AC serving.

There is far more to modern day UK Forces than being taught how to kill and destroy the enemy.

Most service personnel come out with a Trade and/or skills which are transferable into civilian life.

Apologies GG, if my post implied the modern UK forces don’t learn about much more than fighting enemies.
Service personnel learn trades and in my experience are welcomed by emp,overs because of practical and life skills, plus flexibility and reliabikity

Allira

^I find the references to trained killers rather offensive^

I agree.

And cannon fodder. WW1 terminology.

Yes .... I hear that. But some of these lads had no idea what they were getting into.
I absolutely recognise the bravery of those caught up in war and the commitment of those who join up.
But I cannot help but feel uncomfortable about young people being drawn in on the promise of an education. I would rather they got a properly funded education and then joined up on the basis of a more mature decision.
We can all only speak from our own experiences and mine trouble me. I recognise that many will have family members who have made a commitment to the armed forces and how proud they are of them. I respect that.

GrannyGravy13

We are an army family, still have an AC serving.

There is far more to modern day UK Forces than being taught how to kill and destroy the enemy.

Most service personnel come out with a Trade and/or skills which are transferable into civilian life.

I agree, I hate this stereotype people have of soldiers merely being paid killers and thugs and being able to do anything after they leave the army. The army isn't just infanty, tanks and the SAS, you can quite easily go in and learn a trade that will be useful in later life. Most ec soldiers I know have transitioned quite well to civilian life.

I find the references to trained killers rather offensive

I agree.

And cannon fodder. WW1 terminology.

We are an army family, still have an AC serving.

There is far more to modern day UK Forces than being taught how to kill and destroy the enemy.

Most service personnel come out with a Trade and/or skills which are transferable into civilian life.

No one contributing here wants war. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world run by pacifists and I’m sure that won’t happen in our lifetimes.
We need to defend ourselves. Putin and Trump are contributing to a less stable, secure Europe.
We need our military. A military career isn’t for everyone but no one is suggesting it should be.
I find the references to trained killers rather offensive. My father was a Royal Marine in ww2. He ran up the beaches in Sicily in July 1943, as a 19 year old who had been trained to kill. He was a good man, gentle, calm, reliable, loving, kind and more. Thank goodness so many volunteered to fight that war which we hoped would end wars.
I watched Nuremberg recently. The comparison with the 1930’s was striking

My experience of the armed forces has been as a social worker.
Many of the young people who join up are from disadvantaged backgrounds and sadly sometimes not very bright ... they felt like canon fodder to me.

many children would be wrested from their parents and sent o indoctrination camps.
That is indeed what has happened to thousands of Ukrainian children.

This article is six months old but it was widely reported:

As many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, according to an American team of experts, with families saying they are being forced to take desperate and risky measures to try to rescue them.

As Russian forces began their invasion in February 2022, children were abducted from care homes, from the battlefield after the death of their parents, or under coercion directly from their families.

Russia has rejected demands for the children to be returned, with an official accusing Ukraine of “staging a show on the topic of lost children” during ceasefire talks in Turkey this month.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/27/russia-ukrainian-children-abduction-war-crime

President Putin continues to intensify missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities which continue to kill civilians, including children, and damage vital civilian infrastructure. President Putin is also taking children from their families. Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia or to Russian temporarily controlled territory by Russian authorities.
Hansard 20th November 2025

Gosh MOnica, have never considered that perspective.

What too many people forget is that the choice between peace and war is not a choice between killing, being killed and traumatised or living in perfect peace. Most decisions on whether to go to war or not, are in fact choices about who will die and how they will die.

Take the Ukranian War, if Ukraine had just greeted Ptin with a white flag, many soldiers would not have died. Many other people.mainly non-combatants, would. many would have disappeared into Putin's prrisons never to be seen again. many children would be wrested from their parents and sent o indoctrination camps.

I cannot think of any peace/war situation where the conclusion, on whatever side you come down on will not involve fighting, killing and trauma.

It would be wonderful if we lived in a world without war - but we don't!

BlueBelle

I m with you ALL the way Nanna8 I dislike the thoughts of teaching children to use guns and how to handle violence I d much rather see a type of Peace corp which I think is something other countries have done for years

I am with you on this Bleubelle.

The problem with joining the armed forces is that, whilst some will gain an enormous amount from this, others are seriously traumatized by it. I live near the hills where several young recruits have died through pressure from hard-hearted hierarchies to keep up without the necessary safeguards in place And bullying and misogyny are rife.

The other major problem of course is that if you are part of the armed forces, you find yourself obliged to fight for causes that are politically led and that you may disagree fundamentally with. I would not want my child to die in a flawed cause.

Some children will be attracted by this scheme because it means they gain educationally without having to fork out £000s. It would be good if this could happen without the military strings.

Exactly M0nica. Look at all those Ukrainian men who rose to the occasion and give it their all. Just ordinary men. Bravo.

Monica 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Good post, M0nica.

Future attacks are less likely to be boots on ground and guns, though.

To put it bluntly few people want to fight or kill but I wonder what we would do if Putin were to breeze in with his troops. Would we just lie on our backs show our little pink tummies and ask him nicely to go to away - and seriously think he would.

No one, that I know, and I come from an army family, ever wants to kill or hurt anyone else, but they realise that their are times when we need to be able to defend ourselves from the violence of others, whether on a personal, family or national basis.

It's a choice for those really thinking of joining the military. Thank goodness peope do. I don't think you would ever get conscription back. Population too diverse and the young know too much about other conflicts and the flaky leaders. We need more training courses for skills we are losing. For both practical and academic. University if it leads to a profession, not for done ology leading to nothing. Everyone leaving school should take further training leading to employment. It was unheard of years ago not to get some kind of work to contribute to society. My children and grandchildren got paid work as soon as they were able including those at Uni.