British Army instructors are told to stop swearing at new recruits

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A British Army recruit

British Army instructors are being told to tone down their swearing, following a Newsbeat documentary.

Civilians to Soldiers follows new recruits going through the training process from the day they join up to the day they pass out.

Newsbeat's been told that the language used by some personnel is now a sensitive issue.

The Ministry of Defence has told us "it does not condone the use of abusive or insulting language towards recruits".

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Newsbeat understands that there are meetings being held this week to discuss how language is used and instructors will be told to tone things down.

Enforcing any sort of change in policy will be hard and the Ministry of Defence insists it isn't about to ban swearing in the British army completely.

Soldier recruits in training

Newsbeat's been told there are now worries within the army about how that sort of behaviour could put people off signing up.

The army needs more young people.

Its own figures show it has fallen below the required number of troops for nine out of the last 10 years.

Royal SignalsImage source, MOD

Through drill, physical training, exercises and inspections - the Newsbeat documentary, filmed last year, shows what modern army training is all about.

It's a tough 14 weeks that not everyone can handle.

In one scene, a corporal is seen screaming at the recruits: "Seriously, I ask you to do one ****** thing, it was to do that ****** list on the board which I had the kindness to write down for you lot.

"Well that didn't work. Right now, you lot have got me ****** raging! Mr ****** Nice Guy is not coming back."

An Army spokesperson said: "It is a long-held policy that the British Army does not condone the use of abusive or insulting language towards its recruits."

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