Remembrance – Part One

As we approach Armistice Day, it’s worth reminding Wikipedia AI producers that it is not a “celebration” and that Armistice Day and Remembrance Day are not the same thing, unless 11th November lands on a Sunday.

This year, my first thoughts are with those who suffered from abuse during their time in the Armed Forces. Many of us who spent a large part of our lives in the military inevitably will have witnessed cases of mental, emotional and physical coercion under the pretext of team-building. Those who suffered include naïve young male and female soldiers, as well as mid-career aspirants. It is sad that incidents of racism and sexual assault still sully the military and that the same mistakes are being repeated again and again as highlighted in court this week by the appalling case of Gunner Jaysley Beck.

One of the tasks I was given when I was responsible for Royal Armoured Corps initial training at Winchester was the integration of female recruits. This was at the same time that the Deepcut Recruit Training Scandal was occurring. Part of the reason we succeeded where others failed was a strict adherence to the principles of Investors in People. The Army stopped using this standard about five years later and to my mind, that explains why it still has a big problem with its management of personnel in 2025. If the Assistant Chief of the General Staff is genuinely interested in eradicating this problem, he would do well to reintroduce IiP accreditation across the Army today.

Army Recruit Training In 1997