The popularity of the armed forces as an icon of British pride among young people shows the value of seeing members of the military out and about in our regular lives.
In a poll for British Future, 16-24 year olds picked the military as the institution that makes them proudest to be British. They rated it at 43 per cent, ahead of Team GB at 39 per cent and the NHS at 37 per cent.
Only a couple of years ago the wider population never saw soldiers and sailors in uniform as they walked to the supermarket or boarded a bus. But the rules changed and this is a generation which has grown up seeing members of the military around far more regularly than their parents would have done.
Some of the ‘them and us’ barriers have been pulled down, but we have also been reminded of the role the military play just by seeing them close at hand, rather than removed from our daily lives on the television in remote locations.
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