I spent a night outdoors under canvas this week and flipping cold it was too, writes our Teen Blogger Rhian. It was all part of my college course and one of those things you have to do if you’re considering a career in the armed forces, as I am.

There must be an awful lot of teenagers in the three services and I’m sure they will all have learnt, as I am learning, that it’s not all just about being the bringers of death and destruction.

On the contrary, our armed forces have often been used to bring order from chaos in other countries, because where there is peace and stability, economic prosperity is possible and everyone benefits.

Drug smugglers around the globe whose goods bring drug-related crime to English towns, are intercepted by the Royal Navy at sea, acting in concert with other international agencies.

RAF Search and Rescue aircraft locate capsized sailors and their helicopters rescue injured climbers from mountains.

Then, there is the Army, which is often called upon to help deal with crises in the UK such as industrial strikes or helping to deal with disasters like the foot and mouth disease. They’re all a big and important, but very undervalued part of our society and I don’t think they receive the credit they deserve.

In fact, things have got so bad for them that the Royal British Legion recently launched a campaign to persuade the government to honour the Military Covenant.

Briefly, this is a moral obligation in which the government promises to look after service personnel if they’re injured, or their dependants, if they’re killed. But the experiences of the relatives of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the numberless others who’ve returned home injured and mentally traumatized suggest that the government isn’t keeping its end of the bargain.

I don’t think that’s fair and it’s likely to put a lot of teenagers off making a career in the forces, so if you want to help do something about it, take a look at www.thecovenant.org.uk for further details.

Our soldiers, sailors and air force do a lot for us. Let’s do something for them for a change.