Child Soldiers International (CSI) wants a judicial review about joining the UK force

The do gooders are losing the plot , they should focus there efforts on the extremely young figters in africa and middle east

The charity is taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD), claiming it discriminates against young soldiers who enlist aged 16 or 17.

of the system which requires minors to complete up to six years' service before leaving.

It says it is "unethical" and "unfair" that adult soldiers only have to serve for four years before dropping out.

CSI, which aims to end military recruitment of anybody under 18, is putting forward its claim for a judge-led review at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The charity says it is a waste of money training minors, claiming it costs twice as much.

and is 'Unlawful'

Richard Clarke, director of CSI, said: "There is overwhelming public support in this country for a minimum enlistment age of 18.

I totally disagree with his comments, I was a boy soldier, I was taught a trade which served me well during my military career,

Yes you do basic training and the two years or so is a type of apprenticeship, lots on adventurous training as well as military trainingg and square bashining

and under taking other educational qualifications. You can go to a war zone at 17.5 but not the front line until you are 18. So many boy service men and woman have become excellent leaders over the course of time.

Richard Clarke needs to take a rain Check. I know part of his argument is about the commitment you give when you sign up , but is an investment, and your employer wants some form of return for being trained, Its standard practice across the whole employment environment.

If you dont like it you can still buy your self out . Its called PVR, oremature voluntary release.

Maybe this do-gooder, should focus his energy stopping 8 and 9 year olds from learning to use an AK47.

Jeez , what is this country coming to , The next stage he will seek the ahe banning of the cadet forces, boys brigade , The guides and scouts,

I dont believe for one minute that there is overwhelming support as he claims,

you are not allowed to go into a conflict until you are around 18. so dont see the point of this (for the UK anyway)

The objetcive of Child Soldiers International (CSI) is in the main great and as you say VW stopping 8 year olds uisng AK47's is to be applauded. This however is to my mind a Child Soldiers International (CSI) a cheap shot, designed for no other purpose than to raise the profile of CSI, whilst this maybe needed, using a perfectly legitimate and ethical organisiation is not to my mind very ethical. Young soldiers, sailors and airman are given a great oppertuinity at 16 and this is what should be recognised.

I think that CSI do have a point - up to a point. If you join at 16 you can terminate at any time before you are 18, but once over that threshold then you are committed for another 4 years. Personally I think that junior entrants should be able to exercise the option to leave at any point up until they are 20 years old. It gives them more time to see what the 'real' army / navy / air force is actually like.

However, this is not all about young people joining the Infantry and suddenly realising that the wars are real. From a MoD point of view, if you invest kit, equipment, accommodation, basic training, adventure training and then technical trade training into an individual - then this comes at quite a hefty price - hence they rightly want some return for all of that investment. As a result they have to set certain lengths of service dependant on the investment that they have made.

Apparently only about 1.5 per cent of forces personnel fall into the junior category and the majority of those appear to be quite happy with the choice that they have made - therefore it begs the question of how prevalent is it that people are tied to contracts that perhaps they did not read properly at the time of signing.

I sympathise with those who find themselves in a position that perhaps they don't want to be in, and I really don't think it's too hard an issue to solve - but I think that CSI are in this for the media coverage more than anything else.

Micky an excellent summary . I also suspect the CSI are using this to raise their media profile as well.

If they did succeed . That would mean even more 16 year olds likely to be unemployed .