Are you worried about conscription… *trigger warning - discusses risks of war**

[Shushhh]

I don’t know why, but I feel like a huge penny has dropped for me today, on the risks we all face in such uncertain times. I have thought about my nephews, who are 17 and 16. If WW3 happens, they would be at risk of conscription I would imagine, as they turn 18. This has petrified me. They are still babies to me (although I know they are older and wiser than I give them credit for). My husband is a soldier, so I am aware of the risks he faces. Of course I am worried for him too. But I’m just worried for us all. I am worried for our children. Where will they go? Will it be like old war times when they were evacuated? Will my brothers be conscripted? Will females also be put on the front lines? And ultimately, will we survive this.

I know this is scary, and I’m hoping my anxiety (previously diagnosed) is getting the better of me here. But it doesn’t feel like anxiety. It feels like real fear and a real threat.

AIBU?

No.

America is fighting this bloody war and they don’t have conscription.

even Russia which is fighting a land war in Europe doesn’t have conscription.

I’ve got 2 sons, 13 and 17 and it regularly worries me

Ukraine does have conscription though, and Germany has just passed legislation to bring in voluntary military service, voluntary 'for now' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg9drg8pg1o

I know its hard to judge when you have anxiety whether you are over-reacting, but it is a scary time and you are not unreasonable to be worried.

My ex is in the armed forces now, they are not worried so why are you worrying about theoretical conscription?

todays armed forces are incredibly highly trained specialists, it’s not 1940, my dc’s training has been over 4 years and still is being supervised and taking exams. There’s so many genuine worries but this isn’t one of them

Pretty likely to apply to men AND women, the idea having (according to the interwebs 😉) 76% public support.

Not ex, my dc! And 1/4 are women in their role

Russia does have conscription: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Russia

Professionally I am involved with schools where there are a very high proportion of service pupils.

I hear far more than I should. Overtime, not just now.

I see the effects on children of their serving mum or/and dad, the worries when they are deployed, the impact of very little contact.

Horrible times.

I’m not- wars are fought with technology now, and it’s certainly a great distance to Iran so I can’t see the need for physical presence of huge numbers of British adults?!

what are you envisioning they're to be used for?

My mind keeps going back to Covid. I sensed that things were ramping up, and with a child with underlying health issues, as well as not knowing what we know now about coronavirus, I pulled my kids out of school a week early. At that point, people were still sending out party invitations and acting like nothing was happening. I couldn’t believe it! Then lo and behold, a week later, lockdown! I feel like that again. I feel like things are changing and history is being written right now. All the decisions that are being made now will one day be taught in history lessons. That’s how I feel. I am hoping I’m just being totally dramatic and my senses are way off on this one!

So does Norway and they’re not exact war mongers.

I think what’s going on in Iran will be used as ammunition by Putin for Russia to wage war on NATO.

Russia DOES have 12 months mandatory conscription.

It’s nothing like Covid. Loads of people pulled their children out a week before schools closed. Loads of people were sheltering and stockpiling for close to a month before lockdown. That wasn’t your spidey senses, that was mass hysteria

I think it’s naive to think that a third world war is going to be anything like the other two. It’s going to be fought by drones, with technology, and highly trained professional armies, not barely trained kids conscripted off the street.

Also, if there was conscription, they’d be calling up women as well as men.

And then…? How do we get from NATO to conscription in the uk?

It’s always been this way for service children. This isn’t the first conflict, there are wars all over the world that our military are deployed all the time, the media just don’t report it.
We are still in a relative peaceful time in civilisation compared to the past.
Conscription is very unlikely unless something catastrophic happens and we are not on the verge of WW3

Ah, apologies.

Russia does have conscription but conscripts are expected to fill in for the regular army who are in Ukraine so the conscripts are not fighting in Ukraine but are in Russia doing guarding things and such like.

I feel like this is a surreal concept to families with little connection to service families - the realities of deployments. And I think that’s why so many can’t contemplate the scenario I’m envisaging.

The Scandinavian countries all have military conscription (for men and women at 18+)

Russia do have mandatory conscription?

I wont get conscripted. I have no desire to kill other people.

To the posters saying a war would be very different. Do you think the U.K. would be hit by these drone attacks? Do you think children would be moved to less populated areas for their protection?

Dumbass whoever has posted all over social media about where drone factories will be based (near me). Stupid!

Conscription in the U.K. is historically very rare.

it wasn’t done in the First World War until 1916 two years after the war started.

yes many countries closer to Russia are starting to look at getting more of their population trained up so that they have a bigger pool of trained people to call on if Russia are stupid enough to invade but honestly a mass of untrained people are not useful to most armies.