Conscription -should UK initiate?

There is no point in forcing people into the armed forces against their will in peacetime. We need people who are committed to serving their country and who will accept orders from those in authority.

As has been said, I hope everyone is including their own young family members as those needing to be taught respect/discipline and so on

I think the OP has conflated two ideas. One is bringing back conscription. The other is the the apparently large number of unemployed young people. I don't think the NATO chap was suggesting killing both birds with one stone.

I believe it would be the way forward give the youth of today a purpose and instil some respect into them.

Absolutely not! Why should my kids die in a Globalist War for a Government who cares nothing for them or this Country, in Ukraine one of the most corrupt Countries in the world??

I take it you have no teenage grandchildren to be packed off to their deaths?

I'd have to go with my grandson to make sure he got up in the mornings!!

It's a vocation, not a job.

Definitely not. I wouldn't want my sons or grandson recruited.

No. Teach people that some lives are more important than others? Inhibit the process of free thought, imagination and independence? Pigeon hole youth force ideals on them? No. Never.

Never happening. This isn't the 1940's where not 'doing your bit' was frowned upon. The UK would be sending millions to prison for refusing unlike the small proportion during WW2.

Add in the various excuses for not conscribing...mental health, IBS, the court cases from all and sundry, human rights not to go blah blah blah.

It will not happen.

Not unless we are directly in the line of fire. Why would we, during a period when the UK is being ruled by flagrant flouters of all the accepted rules of civilised existence, such as honesty?

There will be a good many unemployed former Tory MPs in due course...

Greta

There is now selective and gender neutral conscription in Sweden. What is also noticeable is the awareness among the general population and the discussions taking place, i.e. how can people prepare for crisis. The list includes: enough tinned/dried food, water, ready cash, medicines, batteries needed when there is no electricity etc. Also people must know where their nearest shelter is.
What advice are people in the UK given? I don't hear any and it worries me.

I don't know Greta but I don't believe there ard any plans or any foresight whatsoever.

Certainly years ago, in the 1960s, there were plans in place but perhaps most of the general public weren't aware of them.

Greta

There is now selective and gender neutral conscription in Sweden. What is also noticeable is the awareness among the general population and the discussions taking place, i.e. how can people prepare for crisis. The list includes: enough tinned/dried food, water, ready cash, medicines, batteries needed when there is no electricity etc. Also people must know where their nearest shelter is.
What advice are people in the UK given? I don't hear any and it worries me.

I am not worried because I wouldn't want to survive in those circumstances.

There is now selective and gender neutral conscription in Sweden. What is also noticeable is the awareness among the general population and the discussions taking place, i.e. how can people prepare for crisis. The list includes: enough tinned/dried food, water, ready cash, medicines, batteries needed when there is no electricity etc. Also people must know where their nearest shelter is.
What advice are people in the UK given? I don't hear any and it worries me.

Joseann It is not a question of training being different, but wth a stripped down to the bones armed service as we have in the UK. Army personnel do not have the time to just introduce concepts of 'discipline and service' to otherwise useless members of the service. Their job is to train the few new soldiers we have high technical skills, warcraft, how to use modern weapons - and avoid them. How to deal with natural catatstrophes in countires they are unfamiliar with and act as peace makers among warring communities.

Joseann

Sorry I wasn't very clear earlier in my post with FR Callistemon, I was referring to the 1990s in France. Military conscription in France was still ongoing then because I remember reading about Macron being the first president to have just avoided it as he wasn't 18 until late 1990s. It was always a requirement of French citizenship that they had to do military service. I wonder why Macron is so keen to re-introduce in the country now it when he himself didn't do it?
M0nica is right that the training would be very different now, but there could still be an emphasis on discipline and service.

I wondered what the (FR) was!

I thought it was an abbreviation I hadn't heard of.

Luckygirl3

I don't think so ....... they could get tied up in a war to which they object on moral grounds.

It seems somewhat pitiful and defeatist to try and solve the education and employment problems with compulsory killing training - surely we can do better than that.

All of this. Whole heartedly all of this

But I digress from the OP!

Sorry I wasn't very clear earlier in my post with FR Callistemon, I was referring to the 1990s in France. Military conscription in France was still ongoing then because I remember reading about Macron being the first president to have just avoided it as he wasn't 18 until late 1990s. It was always a requirement of French citizenship that they had to do military service. I wonder why Macron is so keen to re-introduce in the country now it when he himself didn't do it?
M0nica is right that the training would be very different now, but there could still be an emphasis on discipline and service.

Joseann

And yet, 30 years or so ago 80% of young people (FR) accepted doing military service as a foregone conclusion.

Conscription ended in 1960.

Was there a poll in the 1990s?

Joseann 30 years ago is a long time and the changes in the training needed to operate modern high tech equipment has changed beyond recognition.

It also varies with each individual countries attitude towards its armed forces. Some countries believe in having huge armies - and conscription and have barracks stuffed with young untrained and unmotivated soldiers with nothing to do.

In this country our armed forces are almost anorexic. They are so designed to get the maximum value from minimal staffing and they do not have the time or resources to keep young unqualified people off the streets for a couple of years and then send them out again.

Ilovecheese

Military personnel are professionals. The services are not there to solve a social problem. They deserve more respect than that.

Yes, this 👍

Has anybody asked the British army if they want them?
Other options are available if it did become compulsory.
Which it probably will not.

In fact, I believe Macron has recently introduced a new form of military service for young people, maybe a stint of a couple of months? (I'd need to check when it was introduced). I think it may be optional to start with, but moves to reintroduce some kind of service militaire were muted. So not totally crazy, though I've said earlier, I am not necessarily in favour.

And yet, 30 years or so ago 80% of young people (FR) accepted doing military service as a foregone conclusion.