It is rational to hire child soldiers?

Over at CGD blog, an interesting post;

Over the past two years I have worked with a psychologist, two human rights researchers, and several NGOs on studies of war affected youth in northern Uganda, the findings of which challenge conventional wisdom and policy. In a recent book chapter, we use survey data from hundreds of former child soldiers to show that, at least in Uganda, adolescent recruitment is a product, not of barbarism, but of rational calculation by the rebel group. Young adolescents were disproportionately targeted for three reasons: because they were overrepresented in the population; because they were more effective guerrillas than younger children; and (perhaps most importantly) because they were more easily indoctrinated and disoriented than young adults. Children who were orphaned at the time of abduction were also much more likely to stay with the rebel group once abducted, suggesting a fourth determinant of child soldiering: the quality of the life to which one can return.