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National Service


billytheghillie
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Was watching the Edinburgh tattoo on the box tonight, one of the bands was the Norway Kings Guards, the commentator mentioned that the young guys doing the marching were nearly finished there 1 year national service. These guys were great to watch, precision marching, twirling there rifles and all that. It got me thinking, after there 1 year service, they would come out and would be looking for employment. If I was an employer i wouldn't hesitate to take them on. Question is, would national service be good for this country?

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National Service was little more than the need to man bases we had all over the world after WW2. It would do no good today because battlefield troops take longer to train today with coms etc

 

But a compulsory work for wages scheme for young men would be a blinder. I have seen many young men, mainly in South Wales but not exclusively, go down what I see as the road to ruin and anything that breaks that cycle would be positive

 

Leave school at 16 with no qualifications and no intention of ever getting a job. Get a girl pregnant at 18 and fall into a council flat, benefits for life and drink yourself to diabetes and DLA by the time you are in your 50s

 

In America the military is a good career option for the poor. They get education, health cover etc that they couldn't get outside.

 

My mate Rick's son went into the USAF at 17 lowest of the low and came out at 38 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and certified to work on all Boeing civil aircraft to the highest level.

 

Tell me one British service man who could say the same?

Edited by Vince Green
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National Service was little more than the need to man bases we had all over the world after WW2. It would do no good today because battlefield troops take longer to train today with coms etc

 

But a compulsory work for wages scheme for young men would be a blinder. I have seen many young men, mainly in South Wales but not exclusively, go down what I see as the road to ruin and anything that breaks that cycle would be positive

 

Leave school at 16 with no qualifications and no intention of ever getting a job. Get a girl pregnant at 18 and fall into a council flat, benefits for life and drink yourself to

 

In America the military is a good career option for the poor. They get education, health cover etc that they couldn't get outside.

 

My mate Rick's son went into the USAF at 17 lowest of the low and came out at 38 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and certified to work on all Boeing civil aircraft to the highest level.

 

Tell me one British service man who could say the same?

You have never met a Sapper then :)

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With childhood obesity through the roof I doubt half of them would pass the fitness tests.

Saw yesterday that around 80%+ of people over 40 are over weight or obese.

Looking at serious problems in the future.

Overweight/ obesity figures are a bit dodgy most bigger boxers rugby players and alike are classed as overweight Edited by jonny thomas
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Seemed to work during 2 World Wars !

Think you will find that people realised there was a good chance our country would be over run and decided to fight for their future.And this country had bases all over the world to fill up and protect, now we have nothing of any worth.

 

Do you actually realise what it takes to train a modern day soldier?,national service was just learn a bit of drill, do the rubbish jobs scenario.

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I can't think of much I would resent more, than my son being forced into compulsory service in any of the armed forces and being sent anywhere on this earth at the insistence of our modern day politicians like so much expendable cannon fodder. Perish the thought.

That has always been my worry with 3 sons,,getting dragged into fighting over some dusty desert that I would not want to fight over,,We always fought for our country,Let them do the same..

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The Bad Lads Army programme on channel 4 several years ago showed how scallies could be turned around with a bit of firm guidance.

 

Problem is that we've hardly any bases, our ships are tied up and our aircraft don't work and most military work is now being handed over to private contract mainly run by the US so there's nothing for them to do anyway.

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as probably one of the few ex national servicemen reading these posts I can assure anybody that on average the ns man was usually a better soldier than most regulars,i pointed this out to my 22 year man infantry training sergeant and he immediately agreed with me. I believe this was largely due to the fact that most ns men had served apprentices mainly in the building trade and so were slightly older.lncidentally welsh 1 far from doing rubbish jobs I was a member of the best Vickers machine gun platoon in the british armyand am very proud of it

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National Service was little more than the need to man bases we had all over the world after WW2. It would do no good today because battlefield troops take longer to train today with coms etc

 

But a compulsory work for wages scheme for young men would be a blinder. I have seen many young men, mainly in South Wales but not exclusively, go down what I see as the road to ruin and anything that breaks that cycle would be positive

 

Leave school at 16 with no qualifications and no intention of ever getting a job. Get a girl pregnant at 18 and fall into a council flat, benefits for life and drink yourself to diabetes and DLA by the time you are in your 50s

 

In America the military is a good career option for the poor. They get education, health cover etc that they couldn't get outside.

 

My mate Rick's son went into the USAF at 17 lowest of the low and came out at 38 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and certified to work on all Boeing civil aircraft to the highest level.

 

Tell me one British service man who could say the same?

 

I joined the army as a fifteen year old with absolutely minimal education and no certificates. When I retired at 65 I was a Fleet Senior Training Captain with KLM.

All thanks to the army who trained me, educated me and then taught me how to fly.

(They also taught me how to drive, shoot and type).

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I did my national service in France. After a whole year being used as cheap manpower for absolutely anything where you couldnt hire someone for. Been walked all over by people with 1/3 my IQ while in normal life I wouldnt even clock them, let alone let them ordering me around...

 

...that national service made me an antimilitarist for life.

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as probably one of the few ex national servicemen reading these posts I can assure anybody that on average the ns man was usually a better soldier than most regulars,i pointed this out to my 22 year man infantry training sergeant and he immediately agreed with me. I believe this was largely due to the fact that most ns men had served apprentices mainly in the building trade and so were slightly older.lncidentally welsh 1 far from doing rubbish jobs I was a member of the best Vickers machine gun platoon in the british armyand am very proud of it

Strange that because my Dad spent 9yrs as a soldier my uncle 12yrs and both say that the majority of conscripts didn't want to be there and were **** at most jobs,

I used to look after three gents in their late 80's and they all said their national service was rubbish even though one was posted to Gibraltar and another to the Caribbean .

 

As a soldier of 13 years I would not want conscripts working with me who didn't want to be there.

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National Service was little more than the need to man bases we had all over the world after WW2. It would do no good today because battlefield troops take longer to train today with coms etc

 

But a compulsory work for wages scheme for young men would be a blinder. I have seen many young men, mainly in South Wales but not exclusively, go down what I see as the road to ruin and anything that breaks that cycle would be positive

 

Leave school at 16 with no qualifications and no intention of ever getting a job. Get a girl pregnant at 18 and fall into a council flat, benefits for life and drink yourself to diabetes and DLA by the time you are in your 50s

 

In America the military is a good career option for the poor. They get education, health cover etc that they couldn't get outside.

 

My mate Rick's son went into the USAF at 17 lowest of the low and came out at 38 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and certified to work on all Boeing civil aircraft to the highest level.

 

Tell me one British service man who could say the same?

Go to any of the world's leading airlines, round up the engineers and ask them if there's any brats present. Many of the more senior among them will respond.

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