[West Ender]

When my late husband joined the RAF he did so to start a career in electronics. Rather than going to university he studied for an HND through the RAF. He was in Bomber Command and worked on the, then, "secret" computer navigational bombing system in V-Bombers in the early 60s. He knew that, in the event of war, he would be in the front line and, in fact, was on stand-by to fly to Florida in the Bay of Pigs incident which we all thought was going to be the start of World War 3.

The point is he had joined the RAF in 1958, not that long after WW2, Palestine, Korea, Malaya etc. and I suppose everyone in those days associated the forces with having to fight. I know we've had some nasty wars since then but, apart from the "policing" role in N Ireland, they've tended to be of much less duration and, with reference to WW2, not so close to home. I think some youngsters now think of the army as an apprenticeship in a uniform. They are certainly not told by the recruitment office that, when necessary, their primary role will be to kill or be killed and, as well as learning a trade, they will be trained to that end. It must come as a big shock when they're told they're going to use that gun for real.