Careers

Term's Epiphany Service. A lot of hard work was put in for the service and it is a tribute to everybody concerned that it was one of the best.

The Choir are most grateful to Mr. Waine and the librarians for the hard work they do, and to Mr. Howat and Mr. Jeffs, who endeavour, with adequate success, to keep us in time, and all will echo the Head Master's words in saying that the singing in Chapel has reached an even higher peak this term.

The hosts at this year's annual conference of the Public Schools Appointments Bureau were the Admiralty, the Army Council and the Air Council. The conference was addressed by the Minister of Defence and by senior officers of all three Services, and all were at pains to stress the changing nature and functions of the armed forces. Though nuclear weapons seem to dominate the scene, it is obvious that conventional forces are necessary and will be necessary for many years to come. Nuclear missiles and bombs are most valuable as deterrents in what the Minister called "the balance of terror"; to use them indiscriminately would almost certainly lead to all-out war. To deal with local troubles before they can develop into major conflicts means the creation and maintenance of highly mobile and balanced forces. Such a task creates exciting and responsible careers for boys with a spirit of service.

Talk of disarmament often makes boys and their parents feel that there is great insecurity in a career in one of the Services and this seems to have been borne out by the cases of men in their forties being declared redundant and so being faced with the difficult task of starting another career. This country is reducing its forces to under half a million altogether, but cadet entry has also been cut and boys entering the forces today can be assured that their futures are as secure as are those of many boys who enter business and industry. None of the Services at the moment is receiving enough candidates of the right quality; the Navy is running 16% short; the Army is 25% short of Regular subalterns; and the Air Force, while receiving 3 or 4 times as many applications for air crew training as they can take, find too few of the right quality.

Annual requirements for Dartmouth, Sandhurst, Cranwell and Henlow will in future be for about 850 potential officers, and in- creasingly entrants will be required to have passed in at least two Advanced subjects. The Service representatives indicated that boys who have studied non-scientific subjects at 'A' level are wanted, providing that they have done well in Mathematics and Science (especially Physics) at '0' level, while they hope that an increasing number of graduates, including Arts graduates, will enter Service careers.