LONDON: The British army is targeting children as young as seven with a glamorous portrayal of warfare, a report said on Monday.

The army, strapped for new recruits partly as a result of the negative publicity about conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is going into schools promoting the “action man” side of a military career rather than the realities, said the report funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Britain is the only European Union country which allows children as young as 16 to be recruited, it noted.

“Minors are especially vulnerable to joining the armed forces without due consideration of the risks,” the report said.

The report, “Informed Choice? Armed Forces and Recruitment Practice in the UK”, calls for a more balanced depiction of army life to be given and for the minimum age of recruitment to be raised to 17.

The Ministry of Defence said it does not target under-16s but goes into schools to promote its work in an increasingly competitive job market.

Some neglected to mention words such as “kill”. Instead they used phrases including “decisive strikes” and “engage the enemy”.

But the MoD spokesman denied the recruitment process glamorised war and refuted the accusation that it depicted warfare as game-like.

Gee said some recruits were unaware that unless they quit within six months of enlisting, minors have no legal right to leave for four years.—Reuters