Army Re-emphasizes Combat Age Restrictions

Army Re-emphasizes Combat Age Restrictions

Staff report
Posted : Saturday Jan 24, 2009 6:59:57 EST

The Army has instructed field commands to make sure they are in compliance with an international treaty to prevent children from participating in combat.

As a signatory to the Child Soldier Protocol of the 1992 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.S. has agreed to not force anyone under age 18 into military service, or to employ such soldiers in operations involving direct combat.

To ensure compliance, the Army established a policy in 1993 that prohibits the assignment or deployment of child soldiers to duty stations outside the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and U.S. territories and possessions.

The policy applies to soldiers of the Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve, with no provision for waivers.

While the assignment branches of the Human Resources Command routinely screen the ages of soldiers who are placed on overseas assignment orders, the command has no visibility of soldiers who are assigned individually or in unit sets for deployment by field commands.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/army_child_012409w/%2e