SOLDIERING ON

It might conjure up images of 'Dad's Army', but the MoD increasing the age at which retired troops can be called up makes a lot of sense

- Francis Tusa

The Ministry of Defence has announced that it is increasing, by 10 years, the age limit for calling personnel back to serve in the forces in the event of a crisis. It had been 55, but will now be 65.

It might seem strange to look to the generation of 60-65-yearolds for defence jobs - surely too old? But it makes perfect sense to me.

Think about it: in the 1980s, average life expectancy was 70 years for men and 76 for women. It is now 79 and 83, respectively, and is set to climb gently over the next decade. When retirement doesn't officially start until we're 67, assumptions about what you can call upon people to do, and at what ages, have changed.

Without a doubt, some will question whether a 63-year-old is physically capable of operating in a military environment. But even this kind of thinking needs to be challenged. According to the London Marathon, 2,500 runners in 2025 were aged 60-64, and a total of around 3,500 runners were aged between 60 and 80-plus years - about the same number as ran in the 20–24 age group.

Running, along with other sports, is growing among the over-60s. An October 2025 Parkrun event in southwest London saw 117 over-80s taking part. The point is that society, despite rising levels of obesity at one end, has seen significant increases in health and fitness at the other.

Compared with the 1980s and 1990s, many “combat” jobs no longer require supreme physical prowess. If you are flying a drone hundreds of kilometres away from the front, do you really need to bench press 60kg or run a marathon in under four hours?

In Sweden, you can be mobilised up to the age of 70. In 2022 Finland legislated to move to a 65-year mobilisation limit, and other Nordic nations are also looking at shifting their upper age limit for call-up to 60-plus. It has to be said that if these countries can see value in this - and they, unlike the UK, are on the frontline - it needs to be taken seriously.