You won’t win a war with army of snowflakes

The cornerstone of any nation’s defence is making it clear that any attackers will face immediate and terrible retribution. So I can only wonder what our allies and enemies alike will make of the current Army recruitment campaign, which is targeting ‘snowflakes, phone zombies, binge gamers and selfie addicts’, as you reported last week.

I can only think our generals believe future conflicts will take place on TV screens or iPhones, or by trolling each other on social media. Roy Daniels, Luton The Army seems to lurch from one disaster to another. It wasn’t that long ago that chiefs decided in their wisdom to drop the ‘Be The Best’ motto from adverts, only for the decision to be reversed by the Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. If they cannot even get the recruitment process right, it really doesn’t instil much confidence.

A. Freeman, West Sussex I think the Army is right to widen its net when it comes to recruitment. We all have different talents and skills but the Army has been recruiting the same ‘type’ of people for generations. Who knows what an advantage having avid gamers and technical geniuses on our side will have until we try it? J. Benn, London The Army might as well use Dick Emery’s catchphrase ‘You are awful, but I like you’. Philip Brannon, London This Army recruiting campaign from Capita is disastrous. Recruiting offices should be reopened in major towns and cities, manned by serving military personnel who know what they are talking about.

But then there is the problem of what happens when recruits eventually become soldiers – many serving troops are the subject of witch-hunts.

Young men are going to think twice about a career in the Forces if they are likely to be sued for carrying out their job.

Charles Philpin, Ditton, Kent I have had the great misfortune of having to deal with Capita on several, unrelated occasions – as an employee and a subcontractor. Yet the Government keeps throwing taxpayers’ money at this company for jobs that would be cheaper and better if done ‘in house’. Why? John Read, Birmingham I fully concur with your editorial ‘A shambles that proves our modern Army has lost its way’. But it’s not just the Army.

Our politicians have proved themselves equally inept over Brexit. Business leaders have failed miserably, and well-known high street names are going to the wall through an inability to predict trends.

NHS managers closed cottage hospitals, then bemoaned the lack of beds. Surely it is time for common sense to be introduced into the decision-making process by consulting those people on the front line? Rob Harris, Kingsteignton, Devon