Setting a generation of 'lost' boys and girls on right path to become confident adults

ARMY cadets have been inspired to greater things - and may become Britain's next generation of soldiers - at an eyeopening boot camp.

- BY CHRIS RICHES

Three hundred teenagers spent a week on the science and technology (STEM) course at Royal Armoured Corps’ Bovington Camp in Dorset.

It was timely, following a slew of studies which found structured activities like being a cadet play a huge role in youngsters’ behaviour and how their lives pan out, especially young boys.

The Lost Boys — State of the Nation report from the Centre for Social Justice found boys and young men were in crisis across the country.

It also made the staggering discovery that boys are now more likely to own a smartphone than to live with their dad.

According to the Youth Endowment Fund, as of last year, 630,894 young people aged 12 to 16 in England did not have access to a trusted adult.

Meanwhile, post-Covid, education dropouts among boys have soared 40% - compared with 7% for girls - while one in four Year 6 boys in primary school, aged 10 and 11, is now obese.

But a separate study by University of Northampton researchers found that being a cadet leads to better resilience, school attendance, academic achievement, mental health and fewer behaviour issues.

The cadets at Bovington on the eighth STEM boot camp came from the UK’s communitybased Army Cadet Force and schoollinked Combined Cadet Force.

In one challenge, Royal Logistic Corps cadets split into teams to navigate a bomb disposal robot around an obstacle course - one squad shouting directions, the other steering with no view of the machine.

Other tasks were set by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers - an electrical faultfinding mission - and Royal Signals, who launched a coding quest.