UK Miliatry Conscription

[Matzos]

It seems to me that less and less people wish to join the armed forces at this time, in the UK I think this maybe due to the military actions on going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With the short full in numbers in the British Army, this lays a heavy load on the troops who are currently serving and members of the Territorial Army who are on duty all around the world.

I have seen it in the RAF where one Squadron will return from a deployment and then get told in 3 weeks they are off again for another 2-4 months away from home base. It sums it up that in round 1 of RAF redundancies 2 years ago, they asked for 500 personnel and got 2,500 applying. Round 2 saw more than 2,100 applications received and they only required 1200 applicants. Round 3 have just been posted and I guest again the numbers will be up on the requirement.
I even know serviceman who if they do not get redundancy, will be putting it their paperwork to leave as is their right.

So my question is should the British Armed Forces have some sort on conscription service?

Would this be a good or bad thing to undertake?

Sorry to all our non-UK members, but I would also like their thoughts on this subject.

[ArcticWolf]

It's a definite yes from me. I've always been in favour of military conscription, and I always will be.

The only drawback with conscription would be how would those that refuse to be conscripted be dealt with?
Some countries have non-armed military duties for them as an alternative. I remember France having that at one time, as well as Sweden.
Sweden would also put some men in prison for something like 6 months if they completely refuse to do any kind of military duty.

I can see more advantages than disadvantages from military conscription being re-introduced in this country. There are so many (especially) young men growing up without good male role models and without any discipline being instilled in them, and no sense of what the word responsibility means, from neither home nor school. This has to change, and in my mind military conscription would help in that aspect too.

[John A Silkstone]

For me, military conscription is a big YES.

I have always been in favour of conscription. National service was still in force when I signed on in the regular army in 1956.

The one thing the military training does for a person is to instil discipline. That in turn instils respect for others.

In the old days conscription was only for men. That was because just after the war the population was at a low and they wanted the ladies’ at home to raise families. However in this day and age there is as much trouble with the young girls as there is with the men and so therefore both sexes should be conscripted

I also believe that there should be no objectors. If you deeply feel that you could not fight for your country then there are still none combatant units and jobs they can do.

Who is going to pay for all this? Is the next question. Well that is easy to answer. A large part of the youth of today are not at work and therefore are collecting state handouts as well as a large amount of them doing black-market work.

In the forces they will have the chance to learn some skills and the one not up to standard with the reading, writing and arithmetic would be back at school. Should they behave as they did when they were at school, then once again I’m sure two hours square bashing a day would soon get them in the right frame of mind for learning.

There are also lots of work skill jobs they could learn. If not doing class work then out on the town and doing work for the elderly or community projects. The list is endless.

Why is conscription not liked today? In my opinion it is the Members of parlenment that are to blame. They are so afraid that they will be voted out of office that they don’t want to rock the boat.

As for bullying in the forces my opinion is that it is DISCIPLINE is sometime mistaken for bullying.

Discipline is the screw, the nail, the cement, the glue, the nut, the bolt and the rivet that holds everything together.

The Prussians have it. The Arabs don’t. In between is the Englishman. He accepts it, and adjusts it to his national character. The result is a disciplinarian of ferocity, patience, and infinite humour, who will go to hell and back, provided that the QM’s Department provide the tea and bacon butties.

The principle is simple; lay it on thick, fast, and often, with firmness, fairness, and consistency. The end result is, THE BRITISH SERVICEMAN.

The sixteen weeks of recruit training I endured was very hard and tough on the mind and body. The object of the whole exercise was to break the clay of the boy and mould it into a man. Not just any man, but into a man who is now trained to think for himself, and is capable of looking after himself and other.

Some people see this as a form of bullying. I see it as a necessity. If a man is going into battle situations then he needs to know what to do, how to do it, and be able to complete the task given without endangering the lives of those around him.

I think that’s about it for now.

Silky

[Matzos]

Who is going to pay for all this? Is the next question. Well that is easy to answer. A large part of the youth of today are not at work and therefore are collecting state handouts as well as a large amount of them doing black-market work.


Excellent point solthum

[Bombardier]

I voted a resounding YES! YES! YES!. (Y)

Get the lazy idol dossers off the street and turn them into men, and women of course.

[Bundu Basher]

Yes!


Get the Playstation Generation off their fat posteriors and enter back into reality!
Instill discipline and respect back into a generation that has no clue for any values, let alone the few basic ones!

...and before you wonder, yes, I have 2 sons and would gladly see them both do military service by conscription (although the wife has an entirely differing opinion there-on!).