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The army needs... subvertising

Vivien Groan | 09.04.2009 17:53 | Anti-militarism

Subvertised Army posters on phone boxes in North London.






These posters are all over billboards, phone boxes and buses in London right now, maybe elsewhere too.

The Army continues to sign up young recruits with contracts which may bind them to the Army for years.

Under the Armed Forces Act 2006, 'disobedience to lawful commands' is an offence punishable by up to ten years imprisonment, while desertion 'intended to avoid a period of active service' may be punished by life imprisonment.

Army recruits don't have employment protection rights, nor do they have the right to join a trade union.

Every potential recruit needs to know about these things before they sign on the dotted line and they can't rely on the Ministry of Defence to explain the small print.

Advice is available from At Ease:

 http://www.atease.org.uk/about.htm

Vivien Groan

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

Following Orders

09.04.2009 21:02

ALL ORDERS ISSUED BY UK MILITARY COMMAND TO DO WITH AFGHANISTAN or IRAQ ARE ILLEGAL ORDERS.

BOTH WARS ARE WARS OF AGGRESSION AGAINST A SOVEREIGN STATE.

The International Criminal Court Act 2001 makes this UK Law.

squaddie 'e'e


Easy to peel off too

10.04.2009 10:45

Really like the subvertising - these army posters on phone boxes are also really easy and very quick to peel off completely. You can take them down whenever you pass one.

nobody


war is terror

10.04.2009 11:03

and soldiers are terrorists. They kill for money. That's it.
The army targets the most vulnerable kids (not doing so well in school, missing father figure or over-dominant father, difficulties controlling temper etc) and train them to kill. But they're killing 'foreigners' so they're taught to feel that doesn't matter. They go away and massacre people they've never met or quarreled with, who pose no threat to us. They come back and are treated as heros for killing. Then they move back into our society....

anon


"Move back into our society"?

10.04.2009 11:46

Previous comment on people moving back into our society: not so sure, ask anyone who works with homeless people, many just can't adjust to life without orders. These people are basically turned into shell-beings, without any ability to think for themselves, and then cast off to live on the streets. I don't think its fair to imply they somehow infiltrate our society.

point


anon

10.04.2009 15:01

"and soldiers are terrorists. They kill for money. That's it."

That would make them mercenries, and have been since the standing army reestablish ment under cromwell.

"The army targets the most vulnerable kids (not doing so well in school, missing father figure or over-dominant father, difficulties controlling temper etc) and train them to kill"

Killing is just one of the things they get taught, In combat whereever it may be the ability to do organic rafia work is somehwat pointless. As for emotional problems pre induction to the forces, the army in the Uk rejects candidates that show sycopathic or strong sociopathic tendancies as they are untrainable, emotional insecurities are weakened in training by a system of "break and rebuild".

"But they're killing 'foreigners' so they're taught to feel that doesn't matter."
Incorrect as many soilders involve themselves with logistical and practical assistance in the countries they are in, such as the rebuilding of schools and hospitals destroyed in the conflict (e.g Masadonia)

"They go away and massacre people they've never met or quarreled with, who pose no threat to us."

Well they win, thats what they get paid to do, to go and deliberetly loose is a fairly silly thing to do, proof of these massacres? where are the mass graves hidden from sight, you know, the stuff starlin,hitler,millosovich and hussein were up to.


"They come back and are treated as heros for killing. Then they move back into our society...."

I agree with the last poster, the reintegration with the normal world is poor, most homeless in the UK have served at some time in thier lives and this is a national shame, I talk with them regulaly and they state that its the lack of a meaningfull structure and easy access to alcohol in the outside world that causes them to slide onto the streets, oddly some even prefer the streets to hostles.

no


Mercenaries against Autonomy

10.04.2009 16:59

The earlier comment demanding proof of mass graves in order to assess the level of complicity UK troops have in the daily suffering of the Iraqis and Afghans seems like someone who is only satisfied with selective 'facts' (usually distributed to the masses by the state recognised media). If we're to speak of proof, then what proof do you have that Stalin's Gulags ever existed. To this day I haven't seen a picture of a mass grave in 1930's USSR. To you however it becomes a trivial matter whether proof of that sort is provided especially when your so called mass graves are acknowledged by countries expounding on Democracy and freedom. Then again you have the ever reliable Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn...the one that got away. Why believe Doctors Without Frontiers when they claim that Iraqi citizens are now 9 times more likely to suffer a violent death that they were prior to the Invasion, and that there are widespread reports of abuse at the hands of occupying forces. 'If I don't see the mass graves, i aint convinced' you'll no doubt declare and leap back into the large stash of Daily Mail Papers (porn to you) that you crawled out of. As for the point on soldiers assisting with reconstruction...I'm sure the Germans would build a school or two had they flattened and taken over the UK in WWII. The Soviets themselves did a better job at reconstructing Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia than Britain and the US will ever do in Iraq, therefore am I to assume that you recognise the Soviet Unions significant part in the reconstruction of Europe??? Not so keen to applaud imperialism when it's the enemy imposing it are you now. But hey ho matey, at least Iraq's oil is now under our control, twenty years after the systematic bombing and starving of Iraqs population; the 14 permanent US military bases throughout the country will guarantee the oils safety for decades to come. Viva Democracy, Viva the Sun and the Mail. God Bless the troops who bravely enter underdeveloped countries and liberate their resources.

More troops in boxes please


Dr no

10.04.2009 19:13

I've worked in shools and in hostels so I know both ends of the 'military system' and the news channels fill in the horrors in-between the two, thank you.
Yes they ARE mercenaries.
Yes, they have a choice but that choice is limited by crap careers teachers (dunno how some of them can sleep at night), shit parenting and lack of proper support for practical financial and emotional probs.
You've got to be seriously mentally-ill NOT to get in. I've seen depressives and drug-users signed up. Kids for fucks sake!
The ex-army people turning up in hostels is, i reckon, a natural reaction to shutting down normal human feelings - all necessary to mindlessly following orders and killing strangers.

anon


oh my god!

19.04.2009 13:59

if only id known this before i joined up! get a grip, it IS known by all potential recruits that they will have to follow orders, they have to pledge alliegence to the Queen and the chain of command. Soldiers are forced to live by a set of moral standards which do not apply to civilians, its an integral part of the ethos of the army and it is one of the many reasons why they are all better than you.

evil babykiller machine slave of the government