The comments here are indicative of the very problem that Catriona is trying to get through to the readers - we don't listen to young people. We're too busy projecting outdated values and ideas on them to allow them to grow into their own people who can make positive change to our society.

Some of the comments here are outrageously patronizing merely because Catriona's a young person - you all feel the need to deride her judgment and undermine the validity of her ideas - take a look at yourselves, your comments border on the ridiculous. Such abuse is age discrimination.

If you consider what she is saying you might learn something - children don't have a voice and on the rare occasion that they do(like on this post) we don't listen or value their opinions. As a population and an elecorate we don't scrutinize the dangers we are sending our young people into combat against - their poor equipment and lousy pay is only the start. We need to address the reasons young men have to go into the job, most not for honour or glory - it's about a lack of opportunity among certain socio-economic demographics. Our government shows us that poor young men are not bulletproof, but they are apparently, expendable.

Furthermore, as Catriona says, children are voiceless victims of conflict - true enough, but we can also add that when veterans don't get appropriate support and healthcare, their children are secondary victims, also.