New Army recruitment campaign to promote 'friendship'

A new Army campaign is to promote the travel opportunities and friendship within its ranks, in an effort to attract new recruits.

The UK-wide campaign, which will launch with TV adverts on Saturday, will focus on promoting "unique lasting bonds of friendship" formed in the service.

The Army currently has 79,000 fully trained soldiers, having set a target to have 82,000 by 2020.

Major General Tim Hyams said the Army also offered a "sense of belonging".

The number of soldiers in the Army has been falling since cuts began in 2010 - when there were 102,260 troops.

The cutbacks followed the government's strategic defence and security review, which called for a restructure - dubbed Army 2020 - to help reduce the UK budget deficit.

'Adventure and travel'

Indeed, since 2010, the number of soldiers leaving the Army has exceeded the number of new recruits every year.

Capita, the private company which is promoting the recruitment campaign on behalf of the MoD, said Army recruitment remained "strong", with "thousands joining in the past 12 months".

However, it said the MoD was looking for "new, inspirational and motivating" ways to attract new recruits.

It said the Army was operating in "a highly competitive recruitment marketplace" and the new campaign was "one aspect of the Army's response to that".

The recruitment drive will call on Britons to take up an ambition to do more for good causes and "sign up for adventure and travel opportunities".

It will highlight humanitarian missions in countries such as Sierra Leone, while recruitment events will also be held in cities across the UK.

Major General Hyams said: "Life in the British army develops unique and lasting bonds of friendship.

"This sense of belonging is central to the opportunity we offer to those who wish to pursue a career in an organisation that makes a positive contribution to society."