Would you join the army?

[Rioja]

i voted no, because im too much of a whimp and i always class fighting as a man thing, not that i dont have the upmost respect for all the men and WOMEN out there in the army because i do in bucket loads, but i will say one thing, all these "chavs" thieving cars, on the dole, druggys, havent worked a day in thier chavvy little lives because they would rather mug an old lady for a fiver, dont mess about with prison where they get tv, internet and nice warm cosy rooms, instead... pack em all up fly em all out to iraq and be made to fight for queen and country, that way our streets will be safe and our country will be full of good honest hard working people.

 

Great idea, round up the low life and teach them how to kill people before returning them to the streets.

 

Why would a professional military want a load of chav scroates in their ranks?

[drascalmel]

Great idea, round up the low life and teach them how to kill people before returning them to the streets.

 

Why would a professional military want a load of chav scroates in their ranks?

 

it wouldnt be like that, the army would teach them respect and morals in a better way then a prison could ever do, i would put my last tenner on it that they would return fine young men,

i have a few friends, well no longer friends of mine, that have been back and forth to prison more times then i care to remember, each time they are released they go back to thier old ways and put back inside within a month! its not teaching them anything, which i personally think the army would, it would give em a different perspective on life, a different way of living and if they really hate the army.. well im sure they wont be so quick as to reoffend again will they!

[Harleyman]

I take it that you are now married then ?

Sorry I could not resist that invitation.

 

I wasnt married when I was called up. I was 20 years old. I should have been called at 18 which was the normal age back then but I guess the defence department got backed up.

 

There were several men of my intake in 1960 who were already married young as they were.

 

They did their service like the rest of us. Being married was no excuse to get out of the obligation to serve the country and rightly so.

[L00b]

They did their service like the rest of us. Being married was no excuse to get out of the obligation to serve the country and rightly so.

Married August 1996 here. Honeymooned 3 weeks, then shipped out a week later for 12 months of national service in France.

 

Not for one minute entertained the idea of doing an AWOL (i) firstly and entirely because that's not me (morally speaking) and (ii) because even if I had, then I'd have been on receiving end of a European warrant for arrest, and spent the 12 months in a military gaol instead (as and when caught by SY's finest, then handed over to French MP), with a dishonorable discharge at the end.

 

You'll often find me making posts here and there about rights and duties. Too few people understand the very notion these days.

[matsalleh]

I joined in 1959 at 18 thinking that I may have been called for NS,ended up doing 15 years.

Went to sign up for the other 7 years and found out all service extensions had been barred.

This was 1974 Harold Wilson's Govt.I found the reason in 1975 after that, anyone who served 3 or more years after that date would be entitled to a deferred pension.

This also applied to civil servants who were (still are?) fighting this ruling on the grounds that it should also apply to serving personnel.They are not getting anywhere,probably waiting until we are all dead.

[Cyclone]

Great idea, round up the low life and teach them how to kill people before returning them to the streets.

 

Why would a professional military want a load of chav scroates in their ranks?

 

The army doesn't teach people how to kill per se. There isn't any significant amount of time spent on how to kill an enemy soldier in 17 interesting ways with your bare hands. It's not how infantry work you see.

They do teach them to follow orders and to point and shoot a rifle accurately, but given that they are unlikely to have an SA80 in their hands after they've left it's not such a useful 'killing' skill. The following orders and respecting legitimate authority though, if those are taught well, then they are much more useful things for someone to have learnt.

[Redyam]

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."

George McGovern

 

"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."

Jean-Paul Sartre

 

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason."

Ernest Hemmingway

 

So no, would never join the army to fight pointless wars.

[Harleyman]

Married August 1996 here. Honeymooned 3 weeks, then shipped out a week later for 12 months of national service in France.

 

Not for one minute entertained the idea of doing an AWOL (i) firstly and entirely because that's not me (morally speaking) and (ii) because even if I had, then I'd have been on receiving end of a European warrant for arrest, and spent the 12 months in a military gaol instead (as and when caught by SY's finest, then handed over to French MP), with a dishonorable discharge at the end.

 

You'll often find me making posts here and there about rights and duties. Too few people understand the very notion these days.

 

 

Going AWOL never entered my thoughts either but England was a far different country then.

 

My father and a few uncles served in WW2. I wonder what they would have thought if I'd done a runner to the Irish Republic instead of reporting for duty

 

For me it was a matter of self respect plain and simple

[Treatment]

Only if the Royal Marines were full.

[L00b]

My father and a few uncles served in WW2. I wonder what they would have thought if I'd done a runner to the Irish Republic instead of reporting for duty

Yeah, well...I'm from that part of France, which has always been either French or German, depending on the century (or even decade, at times!)

 

So I suppose there's a bit more subsconscious social/cultural conditioning underpinning this "defense of the realm" malarkey... which is why (you'll not often hear, though it is God's honest truth) Alsatian people are some of the most patriotic French persons to be, and many amongst notable military commanders (yes, there are some) originally came from the North East and still do.

 

Not that 12 months worth of basic would have counted for much, if the Russians had been coming indeed (I was lucky, I got to do half in hussards -for the extra annual leave: 2 whole weeks instead of 1- and the other half in top-level civil service -for the experience and the occasional perks: playing minder to a Discovery Team filmcrew following the bomb disposal team at work around Verdun!-)

 

I did think about career. But in all honesty, I don't think I'd have made the grade for helos or fixed-wing at the time, which are the only things I'd have enlisted for.