If there was a war and conscription was mandatory would you go?

[visitingagain]

Do people think the government has the right to conscript people? Should people who won't comply get punished?

Not a chance.
They can lock me up in a nice warm prison and feed me.
I wonder if I can claim some of my TV license back...

If this country was dependent on 60 year old women to fight then I would say we were pretty much fucked anyway!

The thing is we are not at war and all but a few of us (possibly) have any idea what it is like.

During the last war people were really afraid that Nazi Germany might win and were happy to do whatever it took to prevent them.

Well apart from my age (58) I don't think I'd be forced into conscription due to numerous health problems and the fact that I'm registered disabled.

I would be a conscientious objector although they wouldn't use my skills for combat. I would probably be job exempt. Not quite sure who would look after my son though.

I hope that I would do what I believe to be morally right.

If it is a just war then I hope I would not wait to be conscripted. I have huge respect for the women in WW2 who could have done their service in the relative safety of an office, factory or farm but instead risked their lives, such as the women of the SOE. I hope that I would be brave enough to put what skills I might have to the best use.

If it is not a just war then I certainly wouldn't volunteer, and would use whatever legal means possible to avoid an active role in the war. How far would I go though? Would I be prepared to go to prison? What if objecting put my family at risk?

I suspect realistically most would pick the least worst option and try to get a non-combat role and put up with it.

Yes I think I probably would.

I voted for a Government. They can get in a boxing ring with the Government they are at war with. I'll abide by the result.

Problem is government propaganda will make it look like a just war.

If the situation was so dire conscription became necessary, people would go. They always have. Even the Oxford Union. They said they wouldn't - but in the end, they did.

@stairway

Problem is government propaganda will make it look like a just war.

That's academic. Conscription is unthinkable except in the case of a world war and national survival being at stake.

@Pumperthepumper

I don’t think they could ever have conscription again in Britain. People wouldn’t do it, and they’d be right. It’s a fucking horrible part of our history.

People volunteered by the million before conscription was needed.

These days though, this country can't even get people to wear masks (even by threatening granny's death.)

I'm ashamed to say that I'm hugely relieved they wouldn't want me due to a medical condition! But I would want to help in another way of course. A Bletchley Park scenario perhaps. Though I wouldn't be a star there, a very very very supporting junior! I remember 9/11 vividly, panicking that a world war would start and my brother would be called up for mandatory service. It was the first time I really realised an ounce of how families must feel sending their boys and men to war. Unthinkably terrifying.

Do they still reject you for having flat feet? If so I wouldn't have to do it.

If I did have to do it I'd make sure I got a job cooking or making chairs or something. Or being a fatal spy, preferably in France, sending secret messages on bits of parachute silk and shagging Frenchmen.

Courtier
Pretty sure my fainting would mean I was exempt. Happy to help in another way though - comms, land army, watching for planes etc.

Ooh, I never thought of that - I've got quite into flightradar24 since we started having all the lockdowns so I'd be up for a bit of plane watching too.

Depends on the justification, obviously.

eg: WW1,no, absolutely not. WW2, yes, justified.

@LittleDandelionClock

As has been said, I wouldn't have any choice! Not if it was mandatory!

Presumably there would be some sort of provision for conscientious objectors.

@stairway

Problem is government propaganda will make it look like a just war.

I think it would be harder to control the population via propaganda in a situation like because of the internet etc. There are so many different ways of communicating with each other and they are so much faster now.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done but I think the government would be fighting against information leaks left right and centre.

Depends why. If we were about to be bombed in our homes as we were in the world wars it is a very different thing to travelling and fighting in war that doesn't directly impact our families and homes.

I think I'm too old to be much use on a front line somewhere but I'd be terrifies for my young adult children who are perfect ages to be picked.

Prison, forced alternative labour, ostracism and ridicule, usually.

The men were put in solitary confinement, demeaned and tortured, released and continually re-arrested for the duration of the war.

wri-irg.org/en/story/2010/they-said-no-war-british-women-conscientious-objectors-world-war-ii

In answer to OP's question no I would not join up so it'd be field punishment, bread and water for me.

Fight for King Charles and country?? fuck off.

The "off" being directed at the monarch, just to clarify.

That's academic. Conscription is unthinkable except in the case of a world war and national survival being at stake.

In the context of a world war this whole debate is especially academic….there simply wouldn’t be enough time.

In the event of an all out war, say in Europe, involving somebody like Russia verses the west there wouldn’t be enough in conventional ammunition in the bunkers to stop one side or another having “fired out” of ordinary ordnance with a matter of a few days (where “few” was really not many) and I’ll leave what happens next to the imagination, but AFAIK it doesn’t involve conscription, certainly didn’t used to.

Conscripts aren’t a lot of use in the modern military anyway, which is why the practice stopped, certainly generally across Europe quite some time ago, reason being time to train to even the poor bl* infantry to a decent standard, cost/practicalities of equipping and provisioning. Last time I had any interaction with a part of the European military that used conscripts the poor sods were working as waiters in the mess or as gate guards….

I like to think I've made myself unselectable for conscription due to my lifestyle choices. However, I think if I were forced into the military, I would shoot some colleagues and then myself the first chance I got - it would save all involved a lot of pain and suffering in the long run.

The trouble with people saying it would depend on the nature of the war is that often the truth of the matter isn't known until long after the fact. With WWII, the atrocities of the Germans weren't known in 1939 - the worst of the atrocities weren't even carried out until 1941/2. If you think conscription in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland was OK, why not conscription more recently when Russia stole the Crimea?

During the last war people were really afraid that Nazi Germany might win and were happy to do whatever it took to prevent them

That wasn't the last war - there have been loads since then and I maintain I would not get myself involved in any of them. For goodness sake just live alongside others. Wars generally happen when people (men) decide they want to tell others what to think, and/or steal their land. The Balkan wars are a case in point - lived alongside each other for decades and then once Tito was gone decided to murder each other? And for what? Wars are a pointless waste of money and lives.

@BubbleCoffee

I think a war should be voted on, and only those who voted for it should have to fight.

In that case, perhaps only those who voted for it should benefit from the freedoms it maintains and protects.

Ha ha most wars don't maintain freedoms. You cant judge every war by WW2.