Public becoming more disconnected with what Armed Forces do, says Army officer
The British public is gradually becoming disengaged with the purpose of the Armed Forces and what they do, a high-level British Army official has told the BFBS Sitrep podcast.
Colonel Richard Hall, the head of the British Army's Engagement Programme, also revealed that Generation Z – young people aged between 18 and 27 years old – do not look positively towards the Army.
It comes after a recent poll found that only 11% of Gen Z believe they would be willing to fight for the UK in a war.
"I think we all acknowledge the fact that society increasingly is disconnected from what the Armed Forces stand for and what they do," Col. Hall warned.
"I think with my team, we go around the country a lot, speaking to the members of the public, and things that we perhaps took for granted a few years back are no longer holding true.
"So, there's a definite disconnection where people are not really understanding where people are not really understanding what the Armed Forces stand for."
Col Hall is in charge of the team tasked with giving the public a better understanding of the British Army.
His four teams fan across the UK to spread the word on what the Army is and how it contributes to society.
When asked how the Government could help reframe the public consciousness of defence in the military, Col Hall said the British Army was guilty of not modernising and needed to be more agile.
"I think it's really the military's job to figure out the best way of communicating what all of us still feel is a phenomenal career that's full of opportunity and adventure," he said.
"But I think perhaps we're just a little bit guilty of not modernising and moving with the times in the way that we speak and what we speak about."
There was a 19% rise in people joining the UK regular forces from April 2024 to March 2025, according to the most recent recruitment figures released.
This increase means that 13,450 people have come into Britain's regular Armed Forces, which is an increase of 2,150 compared with the previous 12-month period.
In January last year, former defence secretary Ben Wallace said there was a recruitment crisis in the military because Britain's young people are not signing up to serve.
Speaking about Gen Z's attitudes towards the military, Col Hall said that group of young people holds the least positive attitudes towards the military out of any generation ever.
"I think we've done a lot of surveying and we've seen increasingly the favourability towards the Armed Forces as a whole and the Army within that declining over the years," he explained.
"And certainly, Generation Z, the generation from which we seek to recruit at the moment, young men and women, are the least favourable towards the Army of any generation ever."
The former Army officer with 27 years of experience, including operational tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, suggested the military should try a new way of messaging to get through the vast ecosystem of the internet to reach young people.
You can listen to Sitrep wherever you get your podcasts, including on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel.
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