Your country still needs you, British Army recruitment says
The first time Lord Kitchener’s mug was used for British Army recruitment, it was 1914 and the world was fighting the Great War.
Kitchener, serving at the time as British war minister, stared out from the cover of London Opinion magazine with a pointed finger and simple message: “Your Country Needs You.”
The magazine cover was turned into a poster, with slightly different wording under the senior military commander’s stern face.
Then, countries across the globe mimicked the format, with the United States replacing Kitchener with the fictional Uncle Sam.
Now, the British Army is reviving the historic slogan — with new faces and messaging targeting millennials and Gen Z.
Dear “snowflakes,” the army needs you “and your compassion.” All the “selfie addicts” out there? The military values you “and your confidence,” too. And it’s asking “phone zombies” to bring their “focus” to war zones.
“Big gamers” are wanted for their “drive” and “Me Me Me Millennials” for their “self-belief.”
The posters are accompanied by promotional videos that show young people in mundane jobs or acting out the stereotypes that older generations hold about those in their late teens and 20s.
The videos then cut to scenes of those same young people using their focus or compassion to benefit the Army. On social media, the purpose behind this strategy was put simply: “The Army spots potential. Even if others don’t.”
“The Army sees people differently and we are proud to look beyond the stereotypes and spot the potential in young people, from compassion to selfbelief,” Maj. Gen. Paul Nanson said in a statement. “We understand the drive they have to succeed and recognise their need for a bigger sense of purpose in a job where they can do something meaningful.”
In a news release announcing the new recruiting campaign, which launched last week, the British Army said the “Your Army Needs You” message is the third installment of the “This is Belonging” series — an effort to paint the Army as welcoming.
The first campaign, in 2017, focused on “the emotional benefit of the strong bonds experienced in the Army,” according to the release.
In 2018, the Army emphasized the importance of diversity in the military.
The targeted campaign has led to an increase in Army job applications for regular soldier duties, which are at a five-year high, the release said.
The Army has recently struggled to reach recruiting targets. The Guardian reported that it “underestimated the complexity of what it was trying to achieve” when it contracted Army recruitment work to Capita in 2012, according to a National Audit Office report in December.
Since the contract began, the Army has missed all recruiting targets, the Guardian reported.
The length of the process may have contributed to a pattern of people voluntarily dropping out of the application process, the Army and Capita said in the report.
“People are fundamental to the Army,” said Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson. “The ‘Your Army needs you’ campaign is a powerful call to action that appeals to those seeking to make a difference as part of an innovative and inclusive team.
“Now all jobs in the Army are open to men and women,” Williamson said. “The best just got better.”
KINSHASA, Congo — On the eve of the first expected results of Congo’s long-delayed presidential election, President Donald Trump said military personnel had deployed to Central Africa to protect U.S. assets from possible “violent demonstrations,” while the country’s powerful Catholic church warned of a popular “uprising” if untrue results are announced.
Congo faces what could be its first democratic, peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, but election observers and the opposition have raised concerns about voting irregularities as the country chooses a successor to longtime President Joseph Kabila.
The first results are expected Sunday, and the United States and the African Union, among others, have urged Congo to release results that reflect the true will of the people. The U.S. has threatened sanctions against those who undermine the democratic process. Western election observers were not invited to watch the vote.
While Congo has been largely calm on and after the Dec. 30 vote, Trump’s letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about 80 military personnel and “appropriate combat equipment” had deployed to nearby Gabon to support the security of U.S. citizens and staffers and diplomatic facilities. More will deploy as needed to Gabon, Congo or neighboring Republic of Congo, he wrote.
The U.S. ahead of the vote ordered “non-emergency” government employees Kabila and family members to leave the country.
The Catholic church, an influential voice in the heavily Catholic nation, caused surprise Thursday by announcing that data reported by its 40,000 election observers deployed in all polling stations show a clear winner. As regulations say only the electoral commission can announce election results, the church did not give a name.
The electoral commission Friday said the church’s announcement could incite an uprising. The church on Saturday, in a letter to the commission seen by The Associated Press, replied that releasing untrue results could cause the uprising instead.
Congo’s ruling party, which backs Kabila’s preferred candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, has called the church’s attitude “irresponsible and anarchist.”
Leading opposition candidate Martin Fayulu, a businessman and lawmaker, has accused Congolese authorities of impeding his campaign. His campaign manager, Pierre Lumbi, on Saturday accused the electoral commission of being “in the process of postponing the publication of the results.”
The commission’s rapporteur, Jean-Pierre Kalamba, said “we will see tomorrow” and that 44 percent of the results had been compiled.
At stake is a vast country rich in the minerals that power the world’s mobile phones and laptops, yet desperately underdeveloped. Some 40 million people were registered to vote, though at the last minute some 1 million voters were barred as the electoral commission cited a deadly Ebola virus outbreak. Critics said that undermines the election’s credibility.
The vote took place more than two years behind schedule, while a court ruled that Kabila could stay in office until the vote was held. The delay led to sometimes deadly protests as authorities cracked down, and Shadary is now under European Union sanctions for his role in the crackdown as interior minister at the time.
Kabila, who took office in 2001 after his father was assassinated, is barred from serving three consecutive terms but has hinted that he could run again in 2023. That has led many Congolese to suspect that he will rule from the shadows if Shadary takes office.