'Unable, unwilling, and unfit': Young people are struggling - joining Cadets could be the key to raising healthy, resilient teens

20 March 2025, 12:17

As the last Battle of Britain pilot defending these shores when he was only 21 passes away, young people of today appear unable, unwilling and too unfit to defend their country if needed.

Not only has a recent Times newspaper survey found them more unpatriotic than ever, but nearly one million 16-24-year-olds are either unemployed or not in training or education, besides suffering unprecedented poor mental health. Too many children are also overweight and under exercised.

UK Cadet forces offer a remedy. These 100-year-old voluntary cadet organisations, linked to the RAF, army, navy, and Royal Marines, help 11 to 18-year-olds become confident and valued.

Safe adventure training, fieldcraft, exciting outdoors sports and camps expand their horizons while teaching them how to use initiative and teamwork. This includes normally inaccessible activities like sailing, mountaineering, shooting, abseiling, scuba diving, flying, gliding and parachuting, with annual camps across the nation or abroad in Cyprus, Gibraltar and the US – and international exchange programmes available.

They receive leadership training for life skills in problem solving and mental resilience. A cadet progresses through the ranks as would a soldier, airman, marine or sailor with increasing responsibility.

Through community volunteering, all part of the cadet syllabus, from Remembrance parades to Guy Fawkes night parking duties, they learn about service to society.

They gain expertise in mechanical engineering, marine engineering, cryptography, space technology, and cyber, as well as first aid, music, drill, and navigation, through progressive curricula with recognised qualifications.

This opens up new career prospects in the military (all three services are undermanned) or in industry-related jobs, perhaps apprenticeships in Britain’s world leading aviation and nascent space sectors, which are desperate for every level of resource from technicians to pilots.

But those cadets who pursue civilian careers, which is the vast majority, will do so equipped with the abilities to thrive in the modern world.

However, only 140,000 (over one third are girls) of the 3.2 million secondary school-aged children enjoy these chances.

Government must extend the faltering state schools Combined Cadet Forces programme (most CCFS are in private schools), and single community units like the Air Training Corps – the world’s largest youth air organisation.

It must promote industry tie-ins, increase adult volunteers, especially females, regularly assess all units, as with schools, and encourage private donors, as in 1937.

Well-rounded, happy, healthy and confident teenagers benefit us all. The cadet forces are crucial!

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Andrew Southam is a freelance history journalist and writer with a thirty-year career covering everything from prehistoric Britain to political intrigues of the recent past.

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