We seem to be generally agreed that (a) the British armed forces are ranked amongst the world's best and (b) this has a lot to do with them being 100% volunteers. Conscripts might look impressive marching up and down the parade ground but what happens when you put them in the firing line? Chances are they'll just want to run away and who can blame them.
I also suspect that a conscript army is a breeding ground for duff officers. I once heard this from a US marine: "Wouldn't it be great to take a line of knuckle heads and get them all going up and down at once?" That's not leading men; it's using them for play therapy! I hope they never make him an officer.
I've heard many claims over the years, usually from those who went through it, that a dose of national service would sort out whichever yob had just hit the headlines. I never believed it. Quite apart from the fact that our armed forces don't want a load of scum on their plate why would you want to teach somebody with violent tendencies all about guns?
What we need is something like military service but not quite. As FWL_Engineer put it:
Military style discipline? Certainly. Square bashing? If you like but I would prefer something more productive like subway wall scrubbing. Orange uniforms? Don't be ridiculous. They should be blue - Norman Stanley Fletcher blue. No guns, no grenades, definitely no unarmed combat, just discipline and hard graft.
So what do we call this non-military service? Civil service? Oops, that one's taken already. I know; how about community service!
PS: This from Wilhelm could go disastrously wrong:
Are you suggesting that if the scum are left to themselves they will quietly become extinct? Somehow I doubt it. While I'm generally in favour of a free market it does have one major drawback. It gives an unfair advantage to cheats and liars - and thus also to criminals. Far from dying out they are more likely to end up running the country!
I also suspect that a conscript army is a breeding ground for duff officers. I once heard this from a US marine: "Wouldn't it be great to take a line of knuckle heads and get them all going up and down at once?" That's not leading men; it's using them for play therapy! I hope they never make him an officer.
I've heard many claims over the years, usually from those who went through it, that a dose of national service would sort out whichever yob had just hit the headlines. I never believed it. Quite apart from the fact that our armed forces don't want a load of scum on their plate why would you want to teach somebody with violent tendencies all about guns?
What we need is something like military service but not quite. As FWL_Engineer put it:
Military style discipline? Certainly. Square bashing? If you like but I would prefer something more productive like subway wall scrubbing. Orange uniforms? Don't be ridiculous. They should be blue - Norman Stanley Fletcher blue. No guns, no grenades, definitely no unarmed combat, just discipline and hard graft.
So what do we call this non-military service? Civil service? Oops, that one's taken already. I know; how about community service!
PS: This from Wilhelm could go disastrously wrong:
Are you suggesting that if the scum are left to themselves they will quietly become extinct? Somehow I doubt it. While I'm generally in favour of a free market it does have one major drawback. It gives an unfair advantage to cheats and liars - and thus also to criminals. Far from dying out they are more likely to end up running the country!
