SIR – No amount of political posturing can disguise the fact that our Armed Forces have a major recruitment crisis (report, January 28). There is nothing novel about the recruitment problem, or special to this country: it is why so many nations in both the past and present have resorted to conscription. The preferred British way to resolve the issue, however, has been the centuries-old tradition of a trained citizenry. Today organisations like the National Rifle Association, and events like the