Which of your children would take up arms if need be to defend their country

Like I said depends on who is invading and what the offer is...I wouldn't personally put having to become Russian on par with rape but everyone will have their red lines though.

Well if its Russia then what's being offered is oppression, rape, random violence, and your children being kidnapped and adopted by Russian families, forced to suppress their own identities and become Russians.

If that's on offer, I suspect most would rather fight.

It amazes me how people can continue to believe that war these days wouldn't involve much troops on the ground when there is a war currently going on that involves exactly like that. Do people just not pay attention to the news?

@DeathlyGreenAngel

I might choose to fight against a far right regime that was intent on expansion.

Would you fight against a far left regime intent on expansion? Life under communism isn’t a barrel of laughs unless you’re one of the nomenklatura.

Sorry but goings on in Ukraine and elsewhere shows that despite all the tech a lot of fighting ends up being done by men and women slogging it out on the ground....

A pps comment about living in a field for a week etc probably isn't far off the mark.

Why would any white working class man fight for this country?

They are at the bottom of the outcomes table, yet back of the queue with DEI initiatives and despised under identity politics.

So why would my son defend a country that castigates him during peacetime and only wants him when there is a war?

I assume the front line of war will be inclusive and diverse; so ensure 50/50 in terms of male/ female and the troops will include 20% from different races. Will all communities living as ‘British’ fight?

No doubt the expectation is the white working class lad will shoulder most of the fighting and diversity and equality goes out the window.

My husband would be first in line. He served 26 years in the Armed Forces and it's in his DNA. My children are all young, but I know my teen daughter wouldn't fight unless we were targeted personally. My son, 12, would be there in a shot. He's been a military cadet for 3 years already, and it's all he wants to do, just like his Dad. At least one of my other sons would probably volunteer too.

I have 4 adult nephews, I think possibly 2 of them would do it.
I don't think my brother would. He's a highly trained martial artist, but something of a pacifist. He would also be too worried about his wife to leave her.

I think it's very easy to say "I would do x/y/z" in a hypothetical situation but faced with reality it may very well be different.

humans are complex and are very often a mix of "good" and "bad" .

Any war will be airborn or cyber- very little use for troops on the ground. My kids will be exempt as both on spectrum, but I’d hope they might help with missile design or computing etc. we actually know people in arms research/design/manufacture so that’s actually feasible.

I think maybe they meant if the politicians that were deciding on war if they would "offer up" their kids not if you would.

I think someone had a big night last night

Tell your children to go live in a field for a week, no phone, internet, living off tin food and shitting in a hole they dug.

see which one lasts the full week

I dunno but my DS is a very sensitive boy and DD is a menace so my money is on her.

@EveSix You make a really valid point. I’m so sorry for your family’s experiences.

I do think that the majority of British people ascribe themselves a bravery that we just don’t have anymore (or perhaps it’s stoicism). I think most would run, if they could.

It's a bit late by that point. Just look at how that plays out around the world. By the time the invaders are on your street, there's nothing you can do. Run or surrender are your only realistic options.

DS is 9. I don’t know yet what he will be like as an adults. I’d prefer he didn’t go to war unless absolutely necessary

DH & me discussed this last night.

DS1 retired from Royal Navy for 2 years DS2 very recently retired from Royal Marines - both are still in the reserves, they would definitely fight.

I would have to lock (72 year old) DH up to prevent him from making Molotov cocktails or tying a kitchen knife to a broom handle - generally doing whatever he could to repel the invaders.

@notimagain nobody knows it's a possibility. The west have an ageing population and many countries do need young people so it just depends what is being offered imo.

@Dontlletmedownbruce Yes. Prophet Song was a hard read, it made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach.

It's all very well thinking post invasion the new overlords will leave the kids /your kids alone...until they don't:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_du_travail_obligatoire#:~:text=France%20was%20the%20third%20largest,or%20involuntarily%2C%20into%20civilian%20workers.

and if the invaders were in your street?

surrender if that's a realistic option

Hopefully neither of them

I haven’t raised my kids to be cannon fodder for old white power hungry men. And this country is not worth anyone dying for.

and if the invaders were in your street?

Does the question apply if Cornwall marches on Exeter?

The thought of the Cornish invaders forcing Devonians to eat scones with the jam on first, crimping their pasties at the side instead of stegosaurus fashion. There would be riots on the streets. 😂

None. First of all I’d wait for every one of our politicians to send their own children, no excuses.