[News] Should we Bring Back National Service?

[Zeberdi]

National Service ended in the 1960s but with confidence in the preparedness of our armed forces to cope with a direct NATO confrontation with Russia lower than it has been for years, some form of conscription is back on the political agenda. The British Army has shrunk by 28% in 12 years to around 103,000 soldiers but only 76,000 of those are regulars with the rest reservists.

Do we need to expand our fighting forces?

- if so where from? Voluntary recruitment has fallen but is forcing our young men and women to fight the answer or would a voluntary community based scheme provide the numbers needed?

UK and other NATO allies urged to consider conscription as Ukraine war enters third year

Asked whether he was encouraging the move, Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins said he was "happily sharing" the experience of his own nation.

news.sky.com

When did the UK have conscription and could it make a return?

Britain's top soldier has suggested that a national mobilisation may one day be necessary

www.standard.co.uk

 

[Westdene Seagull]

No - people should be free to do what they want with their lives not forced into service. It would also degrade our forces fighting ability using people who didn't want to be there. Do we have enough forces to defend the UK ? No. That's why we belong to NATO.

 

[Littlemo]

The only people that ever think it’s a good idea are the ones that are too old or too infirm to actually have to go do it themselves. It's easy to think stuff like this is a good idea when it’s other people’s lives and not yours.

Anyway, the Army is a paid job and people who really want to can even join the TA. There’s no need to force people into it.

 

[sparkie]

Voluntary military service with a very large incentive to do it doesn't seem a bad idea to me.

 

[Chicken Run]

The only people that ever think it’s a good idea are the ones that have actually given service, are too old or too infirm to actually have to go do it themselves. It's easy to think stuff like this is a good idea when it’s other people’s lives and not yours.

Anyway, the Army is a paid job and people who really want to can even join the TA. There’s no need to force people into it.

Slightly amended for you

 

[dazzer6666]

No - people should be free to do what they want with their lives not forced into service. It would also degrade our forces fighting ability using people who didn't want to be there. Do we have enough forces to defend the UK ? No. That's why we belong to NATO.

Thread closed.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Since we can't even get our 3 billion a year missile system to work I'm not sure sending out a bunch of kids to their death is going to make much of a difference in a full scale confrontation with Russia.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I'm not sure sending out a bunch of kids to their death is going to make much of a difference

* peel potatoes in Catterick

 

[BBassic]

f*** no.

Life is grim enough as it is, thanks.

 

[tedebear]

Could you imagine todays youth being forced into some sort of service. I think it would be dangerous than anything to have a workforce of disassociated youth! Little Johnny or Little Jane being asked to push the big red button "just a moment Gov, I want to capture the moment and post it on TikTok"....(just making sure the Chinese can see what we are doing)...

The better way to swell the ranks would be to pay more! Besides dictating what someone needs to do with their life is archaic, I think we're beyond that now surely? Like the flipping Republicans are in the US with abortion, "yay lets dictate what to do with someone elses body"...its quite incredible...

 

[Man of Harveys]

As I’ve often said, talk to people who have actually done it and any idea that it’s some magic cure-all to instill some much needed discipline etc soon fades. Unsurprisingly.

My old man did it: chatted up the birds, hung around having tremendous fun playing music and drinking beer in pubs in Germany. My German cousin did it: every photo he has of those days is him and his fellow conscripts roaring drunk, clowning around at what they referred to as the “federal drinking academy”. Maybe not quite what Daily Mail readers/Tories have in mind.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

There isn’t any infrastructure now for masses of troops. Barracks have closed, ships scrapped, and airfields gone to seed. It’s a favourite old trope of the Daily Mail, ‘all they need is a bit of discipline’.
Professional troops don’t have the resources to train civilians, and has already been pointed out, there are Reserves which are available to join.

 

[tigertim68]

Might bring some discipline back in this country

 

[MattBackHome]

We already have all manner of voluntary service opportunities, how would yours be any different.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Might bring some discipline back in this country

…..and don’t tell me. every October you “put your clock back to 1942 when this country had some bollocks” etc

 

[Westdene Seagull]

That wasn’t the question - the question was do we need to expand our military forces and if so, how?

Do we bring back some form of military or national service - that can be anything from 12 month’s compulsory conscription or one month’s voluntary community scheme.

That wasn't the question you posed.

It's very simple :
If you want to be in the forces professionally - sign up
If you want to volunteer join the reserve forces
If you want to help the community then join something like the Scouts

There should be no compultion to doing any of these. We have some of the most professional and highly skilled armed forces in the world - it's the equipment that lets.them down. It's all about quality not quanity - see Russia for an example.

 

[Zeberdi]

We already have all manner of voluntary service opportunities, how would yours be any different.

Mine? I‘ve not promoted any scheme? I’m just asking the question. All I have done is give a list of options - they are not ones I either support or are against.

I think a voluntary National Civic Service scheme might not be a bad idea however although I have no idea what that might look like. Perhaps a tiered level of commitment and something available to every young person to engage in carrying out work in the community/civic duties etc and something that gives them life skills and a sense of national pride.

That wasn’t the question you posed

It was exactly the question I posed - read the thread title and my first post again and look at the poll options - ie do we need some form of national service to boost recruitment/fighting forces? If so, what form should it take? I then give a list of poll options.

YouGov carried out a very similar poll recently and found the majority of responders supported some form of a voluntary based National Service scheme.

Do Britons want to bring back national service? | YouGov

Young Britons are resistant to compulsory service schemes for the young

yougov.co.uk

There should be no compultion to doing any of these. We have some of the most professional and highly skilled armed forces in the world - it's the equipment that lets.them down. It's all about quality not quanity - see Russia for an example.

I’m not sure why you are fixating on compulsory schemes - at least half the poll options are for voluntary participation.

As for Russia, it is exactly because of Russia, the possibility of reintroducing some voluntary National Service for example is on the agenda and why some military advisors warning out troops are too depleted. As reported in the Sky News link I posted in my first post.

 

[bhafc99]

Anything military, absolutely no.

Something that lasts say just a month, around 16/17, and involves some kind of community/social/environmental contribution before you leave education and enter adulthood, possibly yes.

 

[Algernon]

The BHA pretendance equation works just fine and we should just announce that our military forces are greater in number than they really are.
The figure only needs serve to deter anyone thinking of trying it on.
Come real war it won't matter how many fully or half arsed trained combatants any side has.

 

[Chicken Run]

As I’ve often said, talk to people who have actually done it and any idea that it’s some magic cure-all to instill some much needed discipline etc soon fades. Unsurprisingly.

My old man did it: chatted up the birds, hung around having tremendous fun playing music and drinking beer in pubs in Germany. My German cousin did it: every photo he has of those days is him and his fellow conscripts roaring drunk, clowning around at what they referred to as the “federal drinking academy”. Maybe not quite what Daily Mail readers/Tories have in mind.

Interesting how different National Service was to some, my late father did it and spent 18 months remembering not look at the Hydrogen Bomb being denoted nearby, I do now have a medal that we will put in a nice frame though