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Military recruiters must feel like Hansel and Gretel’s “wicked witch,” fattening up the children to eat them. With sexual violence, endless wars of occupation, fatalities, brain trauma, permanent disabilities and an epidemic of suicides, what they’re selling these days looks like a lot like a bad horror show.

With the chance of being sent into quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, etc. on one hand, the likelihood of being sexually assaulted on the other three-fourths and the specter of suicide among vets of all stripes¾you have to wonder how recruiters get anyone in the door. Newbies must not be reading the papers; all four active-duty services and five out of six reserve components met their recruiting goals in 2014, according to the Pentagon.

AFP: Sri Lanka’s new Government said Saturday it is scrapping compulsory military training for school teachers and undergraduates.

The three-week army training, mandatory under ousted leader Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration, had resulted in at least three deaths in recent years and was deeply unpopular among student and teacher unions.

The new government that came to power following the January 8 presidential election, won by Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to reduce the role of the military in Sri Lankan society.

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said the government had “concluded that military training is not necessary for school teachers”.

The Government has decided to remove the military ranks given to school principals, the minister told reporters.

In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court ordered the army to recognize and resolve these requests in fifteen days. At the same time, the so-called "raids" of young people and leading them to military districts were strictly banned.

A transcendental judgement for the country's young people has just reached the Constitutional Court. This is perhaps the most important thing that this high court has uttered in its history on the prohibition of the so-called "raids" and recognition of the conscientious objection to compulsory military service.

Myanmar's military freed more than 400 child soldiers last year, the United Nations has confirmed, a record number since the Tatmadaw army signed a 2012 pact with the UN on the issue.

There are no verifiable figures on how many children are currently serving in Myanmar's huge military, which has faced a slew of accusations over rights abuses, including the forced recruitment of children to work as porters or even human mine detectors.

Since the pact was signed, a total of 595 children have been freed, with 70 per cent of the releases - 418 - taking place in the last 12 months, including 42 on Friday, the UN said.

"Within a one-year period of time, this is a record number of children coming out of the armed forces, reflecting the accelerated efforts of the government of Myanmar and the Tatmadaw to put an end to the harmful practice of recruiting and using children," said Renata Lok-Dessallien, UN resident coordinator in Myanmar.