MoD’s drug U-turn will not solve crisis

Your report last week that the Army is offering £10,000 to disgraced soldiers to return to the Colours for any reason is difficult to comprehend. To re-enlist those kicked out for drug offences beggars belief. This will not solve the chronic manpower shortage.

The Armed Forces no longer offer attractive careers. For years the Ministry of Defence has put political correctness before the duty of care to soldiers.

It is unlikely that young men and women would be put off from joining up by an enemy threat. They might even find it attractive.

It is the post-operation witchhunt that steers them away and makes the Army an unattractive employer. I, and many others like me, could not recommend the Army as a career until there is a change of attitude in officialdom. Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Roger Jones, Odiham, Hampshire The MoD and senior officers should concentrate their efforts on trying to keep honest, dedicated young soldiers like my son to stay in the Army instead of making them feel unwanted.

My son, a corporal, has completed ten years as a mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and has just returned from a six-month deployment in South Sudan.

He has a partner and a two-yearold son, and they have managed to get a foothold on the housing ladder by buying a lovely home not far from Catterick.

My son has always known that he might well be posted to another unit but was disheartened when Army chiefs said they are sending him to Tidworth, Hampshire – 300 miles from home – and refused to reconsider.

My son has now reluctantly decided to quit. I cannot believe that the MoD is happy to watch a dedicated soldier walk away from the job he loves. Name and address supplied It is high time the MoD stopped sending out the wrong message to all those who want to join the world’s best fighting force. D. Francis, Bristol