And now National Service could be back.

[Workingman]

This is the latest ruse from the Cons.

All 18-yr-olds will be offered a year in the military or one weekend a month volunteering. I suppose it will be for all males and females; ethnicities and religions; diversity and all that.

Why?

They are not going to learn a trade in one year, it will all be square bashing and drill. And those who opt for volunteering will be litter picking and street cleaning, they will not be working with people, especially the ill and vulnerable.

[Kaz]

It's absolute nonsense, I've no idea what possessed the man

[cruiser2]

I did National Service--five years actually so that I had a trade when I finished. It was ncessary as the Cold war was at it height.

It should have been kept on even if it was only for twelve months. Many of the youngsters don't know what discipline is.

I can still remember the rifle drill.

[Workingman]

Lack of discipline, especially self-discipline, is down to parents, society and schools, and they have all failed.

The type of discipline in the forces is far removed from that needed in daily life. Conscripts and volunteers will learn nothing of that.

[TheOstrich]

It's absolute nonsense, I've no idea what possessed the man

Well, it will never work, but I wouldn't agree with you that it is nonsense, Kaz.
In a way, it's a cack-handed relaunch of that David Cameron's Big Society scheme that never got off the ground.

But I think we have to look beyond all the stereotypical 1950's square-bashing malarky; look at a much bigger picture.
Are you happy with today's "Society" as it is? Crime, drugs, illiteracy, sponging, urban detritus - and on and on?
Do you want to see a change in it, for the better (it couldn't be much worse, could it)?
We've had three, four generations now of "fat", of ease, and look at what our "Society has deveoped into.
How are you even going to begin to get a different mind set in this country?
You have to start somewhere. So in my book, it's not a bad idea.

And an even bigger question - is this "Society" as it currently stands even worth saving?
I'm not sure that it is.

Cruiser, National Service had finished by the time I was a teenager, but my school did have a CCF (Combined Cadet Force), Friday afternoons for 15yo and upwards.
There was a very heavy lean on you to join it, but I confess I wimped out. The alternative was the PSG, Personal Service Group, which was, for example, voluntarily assisting the elderly in a very deprived part of Birmingham.
In a way, that's not much different to what is being suggested now.

[Kaz]

I think as a vote catcher it is nonsense, Ossie. People won't vote for this.

To paraphrase my Royal Marine nephew yesterday, you can't expect the armed forces to mop up all of society's ills - decent parenting might be a start, but that ship seems to have largely hit the rocks from what I see around me, out and about

[cromwell]

It will never happen because many of the yoof will not want to do it. Are the police going to arrest them all? No. Are they going to be jailed? Where? The prisons are full already.
Will the human rights lawyers have a field day? Yes.
In a perfect world it's a good idea. Going back fifty years it would have been a good idea. Now, forget it.
Especially as there are parts of our society whom I would not want training in the handling of arms and explosives.

[Workingman]

Ossie, the days of the cadet forces and personal service groups are a lifetime away. The parents of the children in those days had just come through a war and there were still elements of personal responsibility and personal discipline around. We had only a few TV channels, no Internet, no mobile phones, no social media. We had to look out for ourselves, our friends and neighbours as nobody else would. We were resilient and adaptable because we had to be.

Today? All that is gone. Narcissism and me, me, me now rule.

When it comes to the armed forces they are now technical forces with qualifications needed. The days of thousands of infantry with guns are gone. Same applies for care work. To go anywhere near a "client" a level 2 certificate is required. You cannot just turn up and get to work as in the old days.

Now, forget it. Especially as there are parts of our society whom I would not want training in the handling of arms and explosives.

Quite.

[saundra]

It wouldn't work in today society it would be a hindrance in a hospital what would they do exactly nurses wouldn't have time to show them and if they didnt show up who would know
Same as a weekend a stupid idea

[Suff]

Well even trying it might highlight something about the society we live in today.