Children.

This is coolbert:

Watching a public broadcast television program this evening dealing with the subject of child soldiers.

Very troubling and disturbing program.

Showing what occurs in the aftermath of child soldiers being returned to civilian life.

Child soldiers, teenagers, under the age of eighteen, often quite younger, not even of teen age, being conscripted, dragooned into military service. Dragooned by insurrectionists and forced to fight. CHILD SOLDIERS, QUITE OFTEN FORCED TO PARTICIPATE IN AND PERPETRATE ATROCITY!!

"dra·goon - - tr.v. dra·gooned, dra·goon·ing, dra·goons

1.To subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops.

2.To compel by violent measures or threats; coerce."

In this particular instance, the use of child soldiers is most acute in Africa.

Vicious insurrectionist groups such as the RUF [Sierra Leone] and the The Lord's Resistance Army [Uganda] heavily "recruit" children, the bad guys in command of these groups notorious for their use of children in combat.

"The Lord's Resistance Army . . . is a sectarian Christian militant group based in northern Uganda."

"The group was formed in 1987 and is engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa's longest-running conflicts."

Child soldiers, deserting, captured as prisoners on the battlefield, are quite often repatriated to their home villages, the idea being to reunite with family and resume a normal life. Programs have been established to assist in the rehabilitation process, the success rate of such programs being very poor.

ONLY ABOUT 12 % OF THOSE REPATRIATED CHILD SOLDIERS ARE REHABILITATED AND ARE EVER ABLE TO RESUME A NORMAL LIFE!!

Too much water over the dam already, as the adage would go.

The "dragooning" and use of child soldiers is a crime under international law, the "commanders" of the various insurrectionist groups having been already indicted in the international criminal court. FEW if ANY of these bad guys will ever see justice for their crimes? Merely SEEKING A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT WITH THESE INSURRECTIONISTS QUITE OFTEN MEANS FOREGOING PROSECUTION!!

coolbert.