The main sources for the information in this web site are official (government or government-commissioned) documents. These include:

• Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Surveys [most recent: 2011]
• Defence Analytical Services Agency
• Ministry of Defence: The Government’s Response to the House of Commons Defence Committee’s Third Report of Session 2004-05, on Duty of Care, July 2005
• Ministry of Defence: ‘Instruction 6: Retirement or discharge on the grounds of conscience’, Issue 12
• Quantitative & Qualitative Research into Sexual Harassment in the Armed Forces
• Armed Forces Pay Review Body: Thirty-Fifth Report — 2006
• Explanatory Memorandum on the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• National Audit Office: Ministry of Defence: Recruitment and Retention in the Armed Forces (November 2006)
• Terms of Service for the Army, RAF and Navy/Marines are available on the Office of Public Sector Information website
• Ministry of Defence: Armed Forces Careers Office Form 4
• Ministry of Defence: Armed Forces Careers Office Form 5 [guidance notes for completing the application form]
• Ministry of Defence Youth Policy
• Ministry of Defence: Operations in Afghanistan - British fatalities
• Strachan, H (2010) for the Ministry of Defence: 'Report of the Task Force on the Military Covenant'
• Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act

The following legal documents (Statutory Instruments) have been referred to:

• The Armed Forces (Terms of Service) (Amendment) Regulations 2011
• The Armed Forces (Terms of Service) (Amendment) Regulations 2009
• The Armed Forces (Enlistment) Regulations 2009
• The Army Terms of Service (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2008
• The Army Terms of Service Regulations 2007
• The Royal Air Force Terms of Service Regulations 2007
• The Royal Marines Terms of Service Regulations 2006
• The Royal Navy Terms of Service (Ratings) Regulations 2006

In addition, the following sources from parliamentary committees have been used:

• Defence Committee 'Recruiting and Retaining Armed Forces Personnel', 2008
• Defence Committee 'Duty of Care' Report Vol I, 2005
• Defence Committee 'Duty of Care' Report Vol II, 2005
• Joint Committee on Human Rights, 'Children's Rights', 2009

The following United Nations documents have been used:

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• CRC Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
• Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations on UK Report submitted under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 17 October 2008

A number of academic studies have been used, including:

• Bisson, Jonathan: ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’, BMJ Clinical Evidence
• Fear, Nicola et al: 'What are the consequences of deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan on the mental health of the UK armed forces? A cohort study', Lancet, 13 May 2010 (online) - accessed 13 May 2010
• Friedman, Matthew J: ‘Acknowledging the Psychiatric Cost of War’, The New England Journal of Medicine, 1 July 2004, pp75-77
• Gee, David and Goodman, A: 'Army recruiters visit London's poorest schools most often' [short report], London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2010)
• Hoge, Charles W and Castro, Carl A: ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder in UK and US forces deployed to Iraq’ [correspondence in The Lancet, 2 September 2006, Vol 368: 837
• Hoge, Charles W et al: ‘Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care’, The New England Journal of Medicine, 1 July 2004, pp13-22
• Hotopf, Matthew et al: ‘The health of UK military personnel who deployed to the 2003 Iraq war: a cohort study’, The Lancet, 16 May 2006, Vol 367: 1731–41
• Jones, Margaret et al: ‘The burden of psychological symptoms in UK Armed Forces’ [subscription], Occupational Medicine 2006, 56(5):322-328
• Lee, Harry and Jones, Edgar: War and Health: Lessons from the Gulf War, (Chichester: Wiley, 2007) [no link]
• McManus, S et al (eds.): Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007: Results of a household survey, NHS, 2007 (online) - accessed 13 May 2010

A number of studies commissioned from polling organisations have been used:

• Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development: 'Employee outlook -- Job seeking in a recession' (London: 2009)
• Royal British Legion: Profile and Needs: Comparisons between the Ex-Service Community and the UK population (London: 2006)
• Royal British Legion: Profile of the Ex-Services Community in the UK, (London: 2005 [revised edition])
• The Work Foundation: The good worker: A survey of attitudes towards work in the UK (2006) [no link]

The website has also been informed by conversations with serving and former armed forces personnel, their families and people who work with them.

A fuller discussion of the issues in UK armed forces recruitment can be found here:

• Gee, David: 'Informed Choice? Armed forces recruitment practice in the United Kingdom

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