19 yr old son and fear of being called up to fight in a war

[User287264]

This is not a thread about "will WW3 start tomorrow", there are plenty of those already

Ds is 19 and has been talking about lot about what would happen if the UK did enter a war and if young people his age would be called up to fight.

He's such a gentle soul, I think this would be his worst nightmare. (Not that many people would relish it I know)

I'm not sure what to say to him. It feels to me like a general call-up WW2 style would not happen nowadays but what do I know?

I guess we all have our different worries about world security right now but I guess his is quite a specific worry. I'm 52 with arthritis, I'm not ever likely to be called up to fight.

It's total speculation and I still dont feel it's very likely, but does anyone have any idea how a massive call-up might work nowadays? Or would the current armed forces and reserves be enough? I'd like to reassure him without just dismissing his fears.

He does have a tendency to anxiety which doesn't help, but he's generally good at handling it. We're having a news-free day (apart from me right now) and going out for a big walk in the rain

Are you serious?

We weren't invaded. We didn't and dont have a land border with anyone. Still had national conscription.

In WW2 there was an immediate threat of invasion by Germany - there is no present threat of that now.

I don't know which sex posters are, but many are likely female. There's something particularly troubling about one sex covertly policing the gender roles of the other. I saw a tv show recently where a female presenter saw a male bodybuilder doing pull ups in the street. She was of very slight build herself. She took great delight in asking a male cameraman, of average build, to see how many pull ups he could do. She didn't try to do any herself. Then there was the white feather movement in the 1st world war, handing out cowardice symbols to men not at war to try to humiliate them into joining one of the most brutal conflicts in history.
I heard a male friend once say criticism of not being manly enough (what does that even mean?) was worse for him when it came from a woman. And yes, it's also true that all the beauty standards, harassment and worse perpetrated on women by men is unacceptable. But you can't have it both ways. You can't. You want equality, well that's what you'll get. If you say you want equality but actually want superiority (the pros without the cons) then you're actually a hindrance to equality.
I watched Queer Eye yesterday. Yes I know it's a programme, scripted, edited. I've met men gay and straight as kind and caring as the presenters. They don't.come across as gung ho race to the frontline in war types. Does that now mean they're all useless jellies as one of the awful posts here put it? What this thread has revealed about the mentality of some of the posters here makes me sick.

@YokohamaSapphire that's why I wouldn't want my DS risking his life for such vile people.

I don’t t think conscription will ever be allowed again, Holman rights have moved on. And it isn’t just a man thing anymore anyway, they’d be calling women too

During WW2 it was social pressure, manufactured from carefully designed propaganda pieces, that ‘forced’ a lot of men to enlist from the UK. That’s what we need to worry about - the government itself hasn’t directly forced anyone to enlist since WW1

Germany was poised, literally on the coast of Northern France, to invade England during WW2.

Human rights obviously haven’t moved on in Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden (recently reintroduced), Switzerland, and Denmark.

Other European countries have retained conscription in wartime. Germany, for example.

The social pressure approach worked a treat during lockdowns.

Conscientious objectors have always refused. They were looked down upon, sometimes bullied or arrested but they did not have to go to war. Many refused on religious grounds.

Many did go to war in non-combatant roles.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-CombatantCorps

They obviously weren’t cowards.

“During the course of the war ( WW2) 6,766 men served in the NCC, of whom 465 volunteered to specialise in bomb disposal on attachment to the Royal Engineers.”

‘Twas I that used the term ‘useless jelly’. People seem to have inferred a lot more from it than I was intending. I meant general gormlessness nothing more.

They wouldn't get looked down upon by half as many people now though, would they?

I wouldn't be so sure. Do you remember how vicious people were during lockdown if a poster admitted they had gone to the supermarket twice as they didn't have milk because they should have used cheese to put in their coffee and not gone out twice which meat they had murdered old grannies? And children were vectors of disease. The government can turn on the propaganda machine anytime they chose, it will work again.

I don't know. Most of their generation won't want them or their friends doing it. Most parents won't want them doing it. It's all over social media where they are saying fuck the government, they aren't fighting.

I can't remember the name of the film but it's a true story about a man who was a conscientious objector in the USA in WWII. He joined up, had lots of abuse as he refused to carry a weapon and became a medic. He won medals for his courage and the number of people he rescued.

Just googled it it was Hacksaw Ridge about Desmond Doss who rescued 75 men in the battle of Okinawa.

He won the medal of honour. If you haven't seen it I would recommend it. It made me cry at the abuse he suffered and what he achieved.

Yes the got as far as the Channel Islands which isn't far.

With reference to the previous posters "no land borders" that simply isn't true. We have a land border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This story reinforces how appalling some of the earlier judgmental comments were. Funny how the judgers have disappeared now. I had forgotten how many complete and utter arseholes there are on this website, Just because its in your interest to shame others into fighting do you don't have to doesnt mean you have to do it, All the tosspots saying modern youth have no backbone, do you think the children of Gaza are having some brilliant character building experience right now> The world is run by complete wankers, from the adjudicated rapist in America to war criminals like Netanyahu and Putin. Apparently there are mothers in Russia who don't care if their own children die, just as long as they have some surviving. They've lost 250,000 people or more. and they couldn't care less. Ukraine have lost over 70,000. Maybe they actually do care, but the reality is Russia is now winning and will likely keep some or all of the territory they currently occupy. So tens of thousands of Ukrainians will have died, potentially for an outcome that could have been the same prior to their deaths. But no, you knock back your Merlot and stick on your Netflix and say how crap young people are, when you've never fought, will never have to and will never be judged for not doing so. I truly despise you.

If thats what you really meant, why didn't you say "gormless"? Sounds iike you're backpedalling and it isn't convincing

I don't suppose either of my parents wanted to get called up in WW2 but they both were. My father, who had had rheumatic fever as a teenager which had affected his health, was put on an eight week intensive physical training course anyway and then sent to the Far East. Ended up being a Japanese POW for most of the war. Mum had rather a cushy job in the RAF post office and was always UK based.
I think conscription today is vanishingly unlikely - but not completely impossible. If it were to take place people would just have to suck it up - as they did in previous generations.

Easy for you to say because it was your parents and not you.

Anyway, it's not going to happen.

I find it odd that because it happened to people in the past then it's OK for other generations to do it. It doesn't make it OK. Im glad times have changed. Young adults shouldn't be made to fight for the fuck up of older generations.

No it's not easy for me to say as I have two sons of an age who would be impacted by this.
I also said that I think it's vanishingly unlikely that conscription would take place.
I also haven't indicated in my post any kind of approval or disapproval for conscription - I've merely stated what I think would happen were it to take place.

Maybe read posts more carefully before knocking out a kneejerk reaction?

Have it your own way.