Where’s the nearest army recruitment centre to you in Wales? Is there a company in your town selling combat raiding craft or “rugged use” military laptops? Is your local university teaming up with Rolls Royce to research the latest military technology? The Khaki Dragon project aims to bring together information on how the land, people, skills and knowledge within Wales contributes to war. The initial Khaki Dragon report Mapping Military Wales is soon to be available bilingually. It shows that, despite Wales’ tradition of peace and internationalism, the human and natural resources of the country are used daily for war.
For example, each year the Ministry of Defence finds 8% of its new recruits in Wales, despite the nation having only 5% of the population of Britain.
Around 7,000 Welsh children over twelve train with cadet units, while the military offers scholarships to college and university students and programmes aimed at young offenders. Khaki Dragon aims to give people the tools to find out more about their area, with useful addresses and websites of the Ministry of Defence, university funding councils, and companies likely to supply to the military, as well as army training areas and bases.