Many of them have already battled their way out of poverty-stricken and broken homes as they chase their dream of becoming a soldier.
And now, these teens are combatting the serious shortage in the Army’s ranks.
Many of our 73,000 regular soldiers come from Harrogate Army Foundation College, where 16 and 17-year-olds are trained to enlist when they become 18.
Every year, 1,500 pass out here and most join the Army, making up a quarter of our war-ready non-officer soldiers.
And commanders admit 30% of them come from “disadvantaged backgrounds”, meaning the armed forces are often an alternative to gangs, drugs and prison.
The Army gave the Daily Mirror a rare glimpse into the AFC, the only college of its kind in Britain, where we met trainees.
Ethan King, 18, from Edinburgh, was thrown into the care system aged six, along with brother Nathaniel, who was nine. He escaped a troubled life after his latest foster parents pushed him to apply for the MoD-funded college.
Ethan said: “I had about five different sets of foster parents. I started fighting, took drugs like cocaine and pills and was getting into trouble, a few times with the police. It’s hard to imagine how I got this chance.”
In his late teens Ethan was forced to move to Fyfe, more than an hour’s train ride from Edinburgh, and his life changed dramatically. He says: “I had great foster parents by this time and kept my job as a landscape gardener.
“But I was still travelling into Edinburgh to see my mates, taking drugs. I was always tired from the drugs and just packed it in. I started going to the gym, tried to behave myself, while my foster parents encouraged me to join the Army. My background may have made me tough. When we first came here, a lot of the others were really homesick. I wasn’t – because I never had a home like they did anyway.”
Falling recruitment figures have left the Army with 73,000 fully-trained troops – way behind its target of 82,500 and the lowest level since the Crimea War. Private firm Capita has been blamed for much of the shortfall.
Capita and the Army have now reached targets for taking on recruits and retention has returned to normal levels.
But Major General Paul Nanson, who heads the Recruitment Partnering Programme, admits it will take time to hit the 82,500 target. He said: “I don’t know if there is a forecast, if it is years, I don’t know.”
The student soldiers are mostly boys but there are girls too – including pals Chloe Reilly, from Dudley, Katie Parker, from Colchester and Serena Wilkes, from Sidmouth. They are all 17 and want to enlist. None of them can go to war until they join the regular Army and reach the legal fighting age of 18.
They are taught by real officers and learn leadership skills, tactics and get normal schooling. Many arrive with reading ages as low as 11. Another would-be soldier is once-troubled Carlos Viegas, 17, whose Portugese dad and English mum split up years ago.
Carlos, who wants to be an Army engineer, says before he joined he got into fights, had drug-using pals and could barely read or write. He said: “Now I will get qualifications. My mum did her best for us and she is proud. When I visit, I see some of my mates and what they are doing and realise that life is not for me.
“This college has given me a purpose and I realise I am very lucky as it means I have a future. Who knows what trouble I would be getting into otherwise?"
