Connection to today
Child soldiers still exist to this day. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 300,000 children, most of them between the age of 10 to 14, are part of armed forces or militias all around the world, particularly in Africa.
However, unlike the boy soldiers of the First World War who volunteered to be part of the army, today's child soldiers are abducted to be involved in a militia. Children are "recruited" so frantically nowadays because they are considered to be easier to manipulate than adult soldiers.
The child soldiers today also have a different purpose: as opposed to the WWI boy soldiers who served in the trenches alongside adults, child soldiers today also serve as messengers, spies, lookouts, human shields, and even propaganda devices.