You report that the number of soldiers in infantry regiments has fallen to “17% below the target strength” (Army’s frontline in crisis as recruitment collapses, 10 August). One explanation given for this drop is that “soldiers were being required to undertake repetitive training exercises with no other purpose than to keep them busy”. If there is not enough for the infantry to do, why recruit more?
The major threats facing our country appear to be from cyber-attacks and terrorism. There is little role for the infantry in defending us from these. Perhaps it’s time to scale down the size of our infantry while putting more resources into the detective work that goes into countering terrorism and into enhancing cybersecurity and defending us from cyberwarfare. There is no point keeping up infantry numbers if their role within our armed forces is diminishing.
John Boaler
Calne, Wiltshire
• It’s no surprise the army is struggling to recruit. For starters, its medical exclusions for recruiting officers into Sandhurst are beyond realistic. As an incredibly fit and healthy twentysomething woman, I was barred from my desired career as an officer simply because I had broken a few bones. I’m now an incredibly fit and healthy 31-year-old barred from entering Sandhurst because of my apparently advanced age. Perhaps the army should rely on fitness tests, rather than using a medical form to cull people who could (and do regularly) outrun soldiers in the local barracks. Women in particular enter their physical prime in their 30s. Recruitment testing ignores or misunderstands this scientific fact. The army needs to get with the times.
Name and address supplied
• What the drop in recruitment tells us is that Brexit Britain is not seen as worth fighting for, let alone dying for. The visions for Britain that Tory leaders have articulated over the last 10 years (big society, living within our means, strong and stable, Brexit means Brexit, do or die) have led to recession, despondency and discord. Of course, the defence cuts and negative publicity cannot have helped make the military an attractive career.
Michael Attwood
Cambridge
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