Aug 12, 2023, Goa Spotlight: British military may start recruiting autistic soldiers https://thegoaspotlight.com/british-military-may-start-recruiting-autistic-soldiers/amp/
Andrew Merrison, Undersecretary of State for Defence, Veterans and Military Families, said the Armed Forces are considering hiring more seniors and neurodiversity to broaden the range of skills within the force, reports The Financial Times....
Also, as the military becomes a more skill-based organization with a growing focus on cyber prowess, it must “spread the net wider” to hire more “neurodiverse” people.
Given that neurodiverse people with dyslexia and dyspraxia are already serving in the UK military today, Merrison suggests exploring the possibility of recruiting people with autism, Asperger’s and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, who may “have qualities that other people don’t have.
Merrison also suggested the possibility of extending the working life of older employees, explaining that “there are no philosophical barriers to raising the retirement age.”
In June, a government report concluded that the British army was having difficulty attracting tech-savvy recruits, undermining the country’s ability to fight on modern battlefields.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged in January that the UK was falling far behind its partners militarily as its military was “devastated and under-resourced”.
According to statistics from the UK Department of Defense headquarters, “the total strength of the full-time British armed forces (trained and untrained) on 1 April 2023 was 152,400 people.” The number of troops in permanent formation was 133,570 people.
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