Dandyman
In London village.
\\Unfortunately this is not true anymore. The Armed Forces esp Army are continually being critisised for attempting to recruit from underpriviledged areas trying to get poorly educated teenagers to join. The Welsh assembly recently tried to get the Army banned from coming into schools in poorer parts of the country because they were deliberatly targeting poorly performing pupils.
the Army are even having trouble recruiting these types as many poorer areas are undergoing regeneration and there is plenty of unskilled and semi skilled work on building sites where they can go home with a lot more money than if they joined up.
Not sure if the same is true for the RAF or RN but if you look at the Army little has changed over the years - the ranks are still full of those with few other options in life.