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Record numbers of recruits from London are applying to join the Army despite British forces in Afghanistan suffering the highest death toll in a generation.
Recruiting officers say they have 2,000 names on their waiting list, the highest level for five years.
The figures are put down to a combination of the recession and to a “sharpened” approach by the Army to finding recruits.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul Meldon, the Army's commander of recruiting for London, told the Standard that applicants were slightly older and more “stickable”.
He said: “There is less work to compete with us. And within the Army, there is less inclination for people to leave.” Another factor has been the decision to open recruiting offices in areas with the largest potential catchment areas. One opened in Hackney last year and another will shortly open in Bromley.
Lt-Col Meldon said the increase in fatalities attracted three distinct responses from potential applicants and those closest to them.
“There are those who have been encouraged by that,” he said. “They want to play their part and do something meaningful with their lives and, I would say, take part in history rather than sitting there watching it.
“There is a community that is completely turned off that idea [of joining up]. And then there is the gatekeepers' — people like teachers and parents —who in the main are less supportive than they have been in the past because of the casualty rate.”
Within London, his job is to find 1,239 recruits in the year to April. But it can be a tricky balancing act and depends on recruitment levels in other parts of the country.
“We are not funded to be over-strength,” he said. “Soldiers are not cheap.” The Army's total strength is currently set at 101,800.
Lt-Col Meldon said: “We are filling up. Predictions are that we will have a full Army by this time next year. But we still need to keep recruiting. There is a constant through flow required of around 8,000 to 9,000 a year.”
Army recruits can sign up from 16 but will not be deployed to a war zone until they are 18. School-leavers are typically sent to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate for 42 weeks before commencing infantry training.
Older recruits from London can expect to be sent to the Army Training Regiment at Pirbright barracks in Surrey. All adult infantry soldiers go directly to the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick.
