Of all my children’s friends who took part in the school cadet force I can think of just one boy who is now interested in pursuing a career in the armed services.
The rest of them dressed up in army fatigues every week between the ages of 13 and 18, went on camps and learned much about discipline and leadership.
But they never saw the cadets as anything more than an after-school club, even if it did foster a certain esprit de corps.
The only real downside of such an honourable institution is that it has tended to flourish mostly in the private sector, where arguably it is least needed.
Many middle class youngsters are already thoroughly drilled in the kind of lessons taught by the cadets but children from less privileged backgrounds could derive real benefits from the organisation.
That was the thinking behind the decision of the Ministry of Defence to expand the Combined Cadet Force and extend its reach further into state schools throughout the UK.
Expansion
A target has been set to nearly double the number of cadet units, north and south of the border, and the next phase of the £50 million Cadet Expansion Programme will focus especially on “areas of high deprivation”.
To this end, UK Defence Minister Julian Brazier wrote to Scottish ministers asking them to back the plan, explaining the cadets help develop “self-confidence, resilience and other key life skills”.
These are the very qualities that enable young people to lead productive and fulfilled lives but they are too often in short supply among Scotland’s less affluent schoolchildren. So surely ministers here would encourage any move to build the characters and enhance the prospects of the nation’s least advantaged children.
But no. The reaction from the SNP to Brazier’s letter was hostile, to say the least. In fact, an as yet unnamed member of the party was quoted in a nationalist sympathising newspaper as saying: “There’s no way we’re having this cannon fodder scheme in schools.”
The source then referred to Major General James Woolfe, the 18th Century officer infamous for making light of the deaths of Highlanders in Britain’s war with France over Canada.
The implication is that the current British Government aims to turn Scottish teenagers into professional servicemen and women so they can be sent to die in British conflicts.
It is offensive to all the children who have been involved in the cadet corps and to all the armed services, past and present, from Scottish as well as English (and Welsh and Irish) regiments, fighting for their country.
Distanced
And it is so wide of the mark. If there is any element of recruitment in the cadet force, it is little more than wishful thinking among the top brass, as there is no obligation for kids to join up.
Instead of jumping at an initiative, funded by the UK Treasury, to improve the lot of Scotland’s poorest children, the nationalists have shot themselves in the foot.
Nicola Sturgeon has tried to distance herself from her anonymous colleague’s trite remarks and so she should. Although her defence policies are no more forces-friendly than her predecessor’s, she has cosied up to veterans’ groups, inviting them as her special guests to Edinburgh’s Military Tattoo, for example, and maintained an armed forces minister in her cabinet.
Sturgeon’s spokesman said the obnoxious phrase should not have been used but the First Minster has yet to heed calls for the dismissal of the loose cannon on her staff, described as a senior SNP source, or to reveal their identity.
“Outrageous”
Perhaps she hoped the matter would go away but in the past few days it has been raised by the Defence Secretary and the Scottish Secretary.
Michael Fallon said the reported comments “were outrageous, completely without foundation and in awful taste. The SNP needs to get to the bottom of where these comments came from and take appropriate action.”
And David Mundell, who pointed out that cadets are not frontline soldiers, said he hoped the culprit is “completely disowned by the SNP”.
He said the slur made it harder to establish respect between the Scottish and UK governments, adding: “That betrays a shocking disrespect towards our armed forces from an SNP supporter at the very core of their project.”
The problem is that despite Sturgeon’s efforts to charm ordinary service personnel, there still exists in the fabric of her party people who equate all British military tradition, in whatever form, with oppression.
This time, it is not a cybernat nonentity spouting nonsense from his personal computer but apparently a key member of her team. If she hopes one day to restore politics in this country to pre-referendum normality, she must get rid of the poison, not only in the grassroots but also within her ranks.