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Original poster

Conscription, in this day and age.

147 replies

Vebrithien · 24/02/2022 07:24

Somewhat morbid thinking, but I was wondering what would happen with conscription now days, if it was ever used again.

As far as I can recall, in WWII, it started with young, single men (after volunteers). Then moved up in age, and into the married men.

Given that so many people now have children without marrying, how would the powers that be get around it? Would you be conscripted if you didn't have children? Would absent father's suddenly be claiming their children? Or would it be linked to marital status still. Would there be a rush of weddings? And again, would it still only ever be men? What would happen to non-binary people, or trans people? If women with children were conscripted, would there be fail safes to ensure that their other parent wasn't conscripted?

What do you think?

OP posts:
Joystir59 · 24/02/2022 15:41

If we were at risk of being invaded we would all fight.

bluebikehelmet · 24/02/2022 16:04

Ukrainian men of military age were not allowed to evacuate as of midnight last night.

Conscription might not be a UK thing, but it is a thing elsewhere.

Where we live we are lucky that my husband had an exemption years ago from military service and that should still hold now. We will be getting my adult step son out of the country asap if we need to.

Moonface123 · 24/02/2022 16:46

Good to see yet another thread berating our young males. If l were a young man l wouldn' t choose to defend a country where l am not the least bit respected, and where half the population take great joy in shaming me for being born a male.

leopooh · 24/02/2022 17:12

Thing is we have an ageing population, a falling birth rate & huge generational inequality. Surely the over 50s need to volunteer first, arguably they have had good innings! 😆

RedToothBrush · 24/02/2022 17:26

@Moonface123

Good to see yet another thread berating our young males. If l were a young man l wouldn' t choose to defend a country where l am not the least bit respected, and where half the population take great joy in shaming me for being born a male.
Get granddad to get his gun out, if he thinks the youth of today wouldn't be able to fight like in the good old days. He knows what it was like in the war. I mean obviously he was born in 1946, but what do facts like that matter?

I think support for national service is highest in the group that were born before it was ended, but were too young for WWII.

There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

Moonmelodies · 24/02/2022 17:31

In this day and age it should be young women too, we are not meek and feeble.

SpaceshiptoMars · 24/02/2022 17:34

There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

I can see a case for conscripting people into their 70s if they have relevant technical backgrounds. Remember the millenial bug? That pulled in a lot of older people with knowledge of old systems that had never been replaced.

RedToothBrush · 24/02/2022 17:38

@SpaceshiptoMars

There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

I can see a case for conscripting people into their 70s if they have relevant technical backgrounds. Remember the millenial bug? That pulled in a lot of older people with knowledge of old systems that had never been replaced.

I can definitely see that in a modern hybrid war, that agism will not be a thing if it comes to conscription.

Lots of skills like retired doctors may well be sought.

Justkeeppedaling · 24/02/2022 17:42

I mentioned, half seriously, to DD (24, unmarried, no DCs) the other day that she might get drafted if the Ukraine thing kicks off. She said she wouldn't go.
🤷‍♀️

I hope she doesn't need to.

RedToothBrush · 24/02/2022 17:44

@Justkeeppedaling

I mentioned, half seriously, to DD (24, unmarried, no DCs) the other day that she might get drafted if the Ukraine thing kicks off. She said she wouldn't go. 🤷‍♀️

I hope she doesn't need to.

Does she think she gets a choice?

Thats interesting.

covilha · 24/02/2022 17:45

This country has done so much for so many(yes, I know it’s not brilliant but it does provide free healthcare, education,vocational training and basic benefits and housing) that I ‘am sure it willfind its defenders when needed.

DottyHarmer · 24/02/2022 17:53

Until relatively recently Italy had national service. Most young men took it on the chin but some did do anything possible to get out of it, including pretending to be gay. Any conscientious objectors/flat feet/homosexuals had to do their NS in mental or old people’s homes.

leopooh · 24/02/2022 18:19

There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

indeed

KeyWorker · 24/02/2022 18:25

It just won’t happen. People wouldn’t even wear masks a few weeks ago for fucks sakes!

AgeingDoc · 24/02/2022 18:29

I can't see it happening. Not because I don't think the threat is serious but because I think that before it reaches the point of needing conscripts from the UK we are likely to be facing the mutually assured destruction scenario. It will either (hopefully) get resolved somehow or will escalate beyond the need for foot soldiers and tanks. I would expect to see a war of technology - probably cyber attacks as well as highly technological weapons, rather the type of war we have seen in the past.

RedToothBrush · 24/02/2022 18:31

@AgeingDoc

I can't see it happening. Not because I don't think the threat is serious but because I think that before it reaches the point of needing conscripts from the UK we are likely to be facing the mutually assured destruction scenario. It will either (hopefully) get resolved somehow or will escalate beyond the need for foot soldiers and tanks. I would expect to see a war of technology - probably cyber attacks as well as highly technological weapons, rather the type of war we have seen in the past.
This.

Still ugly.

Still may need conscription.

Abra1d1 · 24/02/2022 18:57

Honestly Will, Jake and Raj from IT would probably be more use as counter-bots and hacking Russian companies and government departments than being trained and prepared for active service.

JimmyDurham · 24/02/2022 18:59

@rwalker

We just wouldn't tolerate it people wouldn't even wear a mask last year no chance of this happening
Whether we would tolerate it or not, the Army & RAF don't want it, which is why it was ended on the 1960 (the Navy had very few conscripts).
BennieAndBert · 24/02/2022 19:01

Conscription won't happen for all sorts of reasons. The few people I've seen online fretting about it remind me a bit of the people who announce dramatically after a terrorist bomb that it could have been them that was killed because they had been in a location within a couple of miles of the site three months earlier.

Abra1d1 · 24/02/2022 19:01

@leopooh

There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

indeed

I’m (just) a boomer and I lived through the Cold War. At school we were routinely told the Russian could kill us with only a few minutes’ notice. I then lived through the end of the IRA mainland bombing campaign in London. Two bombs exploded very close to my workplaces. I saw the mortar bomb smoke over Downing Street.

My husband was on the Tube at Edgware Road on 7/7.

Plenty of Boomers have had the same experiences.

Jellykat · 24/02/2022 19:11

My 2 DSs wouldnt go thank god.. however they both work in IT, and DS1 in particular would be very useful in other ways!!

leopooh · 24/02/2022 19:25

@Abra1d1 what makes you think only boomers have had those experiences?

But if you want to play top trumps then we can...

I'm Irish, my parents are Dubliners & have lots of family in Belfast & I was raised in London. What happened in London was nothing compared to going to visit family but my dad also worked in the city & I was evacuated from Harrods as a child. I was also on tube on 7/7 like millions of others.

Do I win? 🙄

Not sure why any of that is relevant to mandatory conscription in a war though? Or @RedToothBrush post?

Abra1d1 · 24/02/2022 19:27

My response was to leopooh
There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

indeed

Abra1d1 · 24/02/2022 19:28

@Abra1d1

My response was to leopooh There is a certain irony to the boomer generation berating younger generations when they've lived through the longest period of stability and peace this country has probably ever experienced.

indeed

And I directly quoted her post to make that clear.
leopooh · 24/02/2022 19:30

@Abra1d1 my reply to @RedToothBrush was "indeed"....