Like all marketing tools, the army site tells you the good stuff (and there is some good stuff) and leaves out the bad.
The army jobs home page says military life is about ‘training, adventure and travel opportunities’.
Let’s get real. This is the army, not a holiday camp. Remember that the reason the country has an army is so that it can go to war. That’s what you’re being recruited for.
It says that in the army you’ll get ‘confidence that lasts a lifetime’, and you might.
But soldiers are twice as likely as working civilians to be suffering from anxiety and depression, so the picture’s not as simple as that.
The army jobs site also says that recruits who join under the age of 18 are ‘not subject to a notice period when they sign up to the army, meaning they can leave when they choose’.
You’re DEFINITLY NOT free to leave whenever you choose. For the rules on when you can and can’t leave, check out ‘Can you leave the army…’ If you’re not sure, send that page to your recruiter and ask them about it directly.
And the army site doesn’t say tough training is, or that between a quarter and a third of recruits drop out of the army during their training – either because the army isn’t what they expected, or because the army doesn’t want them any more.
Before You Sign Up 