The Recruitment and Roles of Children in Fighting Forces

In chapter three of the book War and Children, authors Kendra Dupuy and Krijn Peters discuss the recruitment and roles of children in fighting forces. They bring up some very good points that usually aren't discussed. One of these points is how some child soldiers aren't forced to fight. Some enlist themselves because they feel like they have no other way to provide food and shelter for themselves. Some may argue that the children in this particular situation don't need to be rescued because they have made the choice to fight themselves, however, I strongly disagree. These kids may have enlisted themselves, but many of them made that decision because they had no other way to ensure they would receive food and water to keep themselves alive. They were thinking of their immediate physical needs and how to live for another 24-hours. You can't hold a kid accountable for a decision like this. They don't have a developed sense of their own mortality yet. Even in battle, the the adult soldiers give them so much weed and alcohol that they are not in their right mind and they think they are invincible. That is why in the United States we don't let children drink alcohol or join the military; they can't make responsible, informed decisions yet.
These authors also discuss another important topic: female child soldiers. Young girls make up almost half of all child soldiers. While some serve as sex slaves, others fight and even hold commanding ranks. Some of these girls have also entered into the forces voluntarily, however, a lot of them were lied to about what their positions would be. Most sex slaves are told they will be cooking meals or carrying guns for the other soldiers. The position of the female child soldier is especially saddening to me as a woman. These girls are raped multiple times a day. Almost all of them get STDs from their rapists, especially when their rapists have had several sex partners and sex victims. Some of them even get pregnant from the rapes and either have to raise a baby produced by rape or kill or abandon their own child. I cannot imagine the psychological damage done to these children.