In a pathetic bid to boost numbers, British soldiers are being offered shopping vouchers for getting their mates to join the Army.
Soldiers are being offered £100 in retail vouchers for referring a friend to enlist as a regular or reserve soldier.
Described by a serving soldier as ‘pathetic’, the recruitment ‘initiative’ comes after new figures revealed that the Army’s manpower has plunged to its lowest level for 200 years.
The Mail Online reports:
It has fallen below the symbolic threshold of 80,000 full-time soldiers, despite millions of pounds being spent on flashy television and cinema recruitment campaigns.
Now squaddies are being offered £100 of retail vouchers when a friend enlists as a regular or reserve soldier.
They can pocket a maximum of £500 of vouchers.
Posters advertising the scheme have been put up in barracks across the UK.
They feature members of the public and say: ‘These aren’t just any mates. These are quick-thinking, morale-boosting legends.
‘That’s why they fit in the Army. Maybe you know someone who would too? Get them to join us and you pocket £100 in retail vouchers.’
A serving soldier told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The posters are making us laugh. I think we’re in a pathetic situation if this is what Army recruitment has come to.’
In July, fully trained soldiers in the British Army numbered 79,550, well short of the official target of 82,500.
The Army has not been this small since the Napoleonic Wars began in 1803.
Niamh Harris