To think the army shouldn't be allowed to 'avertise' in schools?

littlelapin I think you are being remarkably calm in all the circs

no of course I am not bloody joking about the Falklands.
the way the war was fought is one thing but many brave men lost their lives on both sides in that war and I don't particularly think it is a joking matter.
they were doing their duty and their job.
or perhaps they were terrorists too?!?!?
I am losing track of your argument tbh. shoudl we not have an army at all in your logic?

Phew! gave up trying to read all of these posts but have tried to scan most of them and all I can say is there should be a [handbags at dawn] icon.

A very emotive subject but trying to get back to the thread. I see no problem in the army or whoever from recruiting in schools as it is our job as parents to equip our children with the ability to make an informed choice.

I for one would NEVER encourage my child to join up for purely my own reasons (and yes I do agree that unfortunately a military force is vital in this day and age and I am glad there are those who will so "me and mine" dont have to).

1. that I don't know anyone who has come out of the forces who can integrate with the rest of society properly. 2.I hope that my children will be so strong of mind that they would be useless to the forces anyway. 3.for purely selfish reasons I do not which my loved ones to be in harms way.
2. Most all male groups get up to some pretty sick stuff when on their own - its like they revert to animals

oh and DC thats 5 women you've dredged up in the whole of history so far, shall we make a list of the men. I'll start shall I?

Genghis Khan

Start one, I'll join you there, be much more interesting

thats a whole other AIBU thread...

Lol Kewcumber @ tampons

Ok how about "if women ruled the world there wouldn't be as many wars and tampax wouldn't be classed as a luxury item and subject to VAT"

At last !
The "if women were in charge, there wouldn't be wars" delusion.
When I was a kid in the 1970s this was the mantra of every feminist.
Being badly educated drones, they hadn't heard of Mrs. Gandhi, Bloody Mary, Rosa Luxembourg, and of course most pertinent to the Middle East, Golda Meir.
Then came along one Margaret Hilda Thatcher, and this dopey idea was gone so far that it's very existence was denied.

Iran is a democracy that includes women both as voters and MPs, as is Israel. Both are terribly aggressive, the only difference is that Israel has better weapons.

Democracy doesn't stop wars either, it's merely a technology to make your state run more efficiently. Whatever the ethics of the Iraq war, the dead are 99% Iraqi.

Efficient is not the same as nice.

The British Empire had a democracy at it's heart, and between the 17th and early 20th century the democratic USA formed an empire by clobbering and seducing nearby regions. The French Empire was also based upon democracy, post Napoleon, and the really quite vicious but surprisingly large Belgian empire in Africa again had a democracy.

Sadly, George Bush didn't read all of Tom Clancy's books. He missed the part where Mr. Clancy points out that in very nearly every war since the industrial revolution the side that fires the first shot loses.

littellapin - have you moved Afghanistan to the Middle East whilst I wasn't looking? PUT IT BACK IN CENTYRAL ASIA THIS MINUTE

We never had Army 'recruitment days' at my school but then we were either expected to leave school aged 16/17 and get a office job or do a-levels and go to University (I was in the former camp) - there was little in between on 'offer' at my school so you had to look pretty hard to find any alternatives ie YT schemes. There is an Army recruitment office in the town centre though which has always looked pretty run down so little temptation to sign up and a TA centre only a bus ride away. Maybe the services target towns where traditionally a large element of the population was connected with the services ie Colchester as half their recruitment work has been done for them already? After all, blue chip companies only go to certain Graduate fairs - they know the calibre of applicants they want so you don't see them at many 'post-92' unis.

PARP

I've never parped before, but
Ppppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrppppppppppppppppppppppp

TheDevilWearsPrimark,
Why didn't you just start a topic named "What do you think of Iraq", as this is obv the way this is going (or gone)!

The sooner we invade large parts of the Middle East and put women in charge, give them the vote, the right to drive cars etc the better. Those countries are absolutely dreadful in how they treat women. Sadly the intervention in Iraq appears to have set women's rights back not forward in some places but that would suit Bush very well. Conservative US born again Christians want women in the kitchen keeping their mouths shut and their legs open as dutiful housewives ... except I suppose we have Ms Rice which rather spoils my sentence. I'll go and do some work.

I'm nearly with Xenia, it's the only way a civilised country can work. Argentina at the time of the Falklands war was run by a military Junta, which even by the low standard of Catholic countries of the time was seen as brutal. In the 1970s, nearly all Catholic countries were run by their armies, and they weren't nice, not even slightly.

Easily the most admirable living monarch is the King of Spain, who cunningly outwitted the dictator Franco and the Catholic church, and later personally faced down his army when it revolted.
Can you imagine that cowardly moron Charles standing up to a pack of angry Brownies ?

Sadly, it is the case that for most countries, for most of history, the army has been giving the orders, not taking them.

The USA is one of the few where that's hardly been the case at all.

Well yes, even if they wanted to go to Sandhurst I'd be putting them off because of the low pay and the fact in effect it screws up family life in a way I think is dreadful to live with. Who wants a partner who's away the whole time? Those are the real reasons against it - low pay and being parted from people you love.

That would be to suggest, Primark, that none of us have ever had this discussion before until you brought it up.

I think we all have an intellectual hinterland which is a little more extensive than that

I'm jumping on you because I disagree with you ... and you invited me to disagree with you!