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Resumo

Since ending conscription in 1963, Britain has fought its 'small wars' with professional soldiers from deprived areas of the country, many recruited under the age of 18. During the 21st‐century war on terror, these personnel were deemed vulnerable, at heightened risk of psychosocial harms, and entitled to more protection. Vulnerable soldiers bring a dangerous vulnerability into the state. While postimperial Britain relied on them to fill infantry units in an army with chronic personnel shortfalls, they pose thorny political and governance problems that I examine in three military spheres: recruitment, warfare, and mental health care. State violence is often seen as causing vulnerability in marginal groups, but when the state's own agents become vulnerable, they can disrupt its very capacity to exercise legitimate violence.

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