just_words Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Also, why do we just associate National Service with the Army? Many countries use it to help in the community, medical, policing, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman62 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Weather or not it helps the armed forces is debatable, but on the whole it benefits those doing the national service, they see the world, and(hopefully)become better, more responsible people. The simple answer is, we can't afford to reintroduce National Service, the ships have gone, the planes have gone and so have many regiments with more to go due to increasing running costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman62 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Also, why do we just associate National Service with the Army? Because that is exactly what National Service is to most people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callippo Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 out of the 1,100 British servicemen killed in Korea, several dozen were conscripts on their National Service. My dad's elder cousin was one of them. Just had a little google and it seems a bit unclear when, or where, the last one bought it - presumably either Cyprus, or Malaya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Are you saying that no National Servicemen served in Korea and other trouble spots in the late forties/sixties, because I knew people who did. No I'm not. What I'm saying is that the amount of training a soldier gets nowadays tends to be rather more than was given to National Servicemen and tends to take rather longer. If you are only going to keep your conscripted soldiers for (say) two years, then by the time they've finished their training, they will be on their way home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Also, why do we just associate National Service with the Army? Many countries use it to help in the community, medical, policing, etc... Because - believe it or not - the thread is about the United Kingdom and National Service in the United Kingdom was military service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_words Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Because - believe it or not - the thread is about the United Kingdom and National Service in the United Kingdom was military service. Does it still have to be just be military service and not civil service too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 The initial post-war duration of National Service in the UK (as laid down by the 1947 Act) was one year with a possible Reserve liability of 5 years. That was increased to 18 months by the National Service (Amendment) Act in December 1948 and to 2 years during the Korean War. The standard basic training course is 14 weeks, but that is followed by 'Trade Training'- which can take over 2 years. A 2-year conscription wouldn't be long enough to allow the conscript to complete training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_words Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Last time there was National Service the country wasn't filled with subversives and malcontent's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longcol Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Last time there was National Service the country wasn't filled with subversives and malcontent's. There were far more members of the Communist Party, other parties to the left of Labour and organised Trade Unionists during the 1950's than there are today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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