Raised its head on the news I see.

Doubt it would ever happen, and I know most of us on here are either too old, too fucked or too good looking to be risked in battle.

But my lad is 17, and would probably qualify.

Not sure I’d want that.

23 minutes ago, mickbrown said:

Just read. Conscription was introduced under the National Service Act. 
 

So it’s the same thing 
 

 

Conscription was first introduced under the Military Service Act in 1916

Conscription is the mobilising of all those of fighting age to defend and serve the country in a war against another state

National Service is the compulsory recruitment of all those within a certain age bracket (typically between the ages of 17-21) to serve for a defined period, whether at war or in peacetime

Both could be technically considered a form of conscription, but he Army chief and the NATO chief were referring to the former

But anyway, it ain't happening according to Rishi

Wtf does he know

2 minutes ago, Casino said:

Wtf does he know

And Starmer wouldn’t ever demand it. I’d be devastated if my lad had to go fight on the front line. 

In previous conscription there have been a number of conscientious objectors, refuseniks etc.  I can't see a scenario where any attempt to conscript swathes of young people wouldn't be met by huge numbers refusing to go. 

1 hour ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Conscription was first introduced under the Military Service Act in 1916

Conscription is the mobilising of all those of fighting age to defend and serve the country in a war against another state

National Service is the compulsory recruitment of all those within a certain age bracket (typically between the ages of 17-21) to serve for a defined period, whether at war or in peacetime

Both could be technically considered a form of conscription, but he Army chief and the NATO chief were referring to the former

I read about the National Service Act from the Second World War. 
 

Either way the point about old twats stands

13 hours ago, Sweep said:

@bolty58is ready

Gives me the horn that does.

13 hours ago, Nowack said:

Has nobody seen Suicide Squad or The Dirty Dozen, it seems to work quite well actually.

The Dirty Dozen 

where already trained Soldiers 

3 hours ago, little whitt said:

The Dirty Dozen 

where already trained Soldiers 

Join up en masse for the 3rd Battalion Wanderersways. Smiley and Carlos can head up the cyber warfare division, with Cheese on PsyOps; Widders can provide the regimental mascot; them with air-fryers can be on cookhouse and we can send the Ant Hill mob over the top as cannon fodder. Little Whitt and Gonzo on "special ops" (more a Dirty Duo than Dozen, but that's budget cuts for you); Bolty to be our AUKUS rep and sort out the playlist for the regimental band when we troop the colour in front of the club shop followed by a mass straightener with 2 coy Latics Speyk Tank Regiment (two second hand Sunshine coaches modified to 6 gears, including 5 reverse).  Th'East Midlands Whites will direct operations from HQ, naturally (my shoulder's playing up at the moment) - big map and plenty of wine supplied by regimental sommelier Diver (his medal and MBE to follow). What could possibly go wrong? Putin? We'll shit 'im.

6 hours ago, little whitt said:

The Dirty Dozen 

where already trained Soldiers 

It was a true story, it seems.

And there were 13 of them; The Filthy Thirteen.

(It was a question on The Chase)

2 hours ago, MickyD said:

It was a true story, it seems.

And there were 13 of them; The Filthy Thirteen.

(It was a question on The Chase)

I thought that was @bolty58list of people on ignore

"Oh,just stop oil eh..come with us and we know somewhere you can go protest".. 

 

18 hours ago, Mounts Kipper said:

And Starmer wouldn’t ever demand it. I’d be devastated if my lad had to go fight on the front line. 

No doubt everyone parent would.

As I'm sure Ukrainian families have.

We're a million miles from conscription, and I think the military man knows it.

Just a case of making his point over recruitment difficulties. 

Fwiw, we have a reserve force, and also a number of former servicemen, all of whom would be called up first, for obvious reasons. 

Beyond that, we're a bit up shit creek if new conscripts are required. Long gone are the days of a rifle and grenades, and the training needed to operate modern stuff would slow things down.

27 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

No doubt everyone parent would.

As I'm sure Ukrainian families have.

We're a million miles from conscription, and I think the military man knows it.

Just a case of making his point over recruitment difficulties. 

Fwiw, we have a reserve force, and also a number of former servicemen, all of whom would be called up first, for obvious reasons. 

Beyond that, we're a bit up shit creek if new conscripts are required. Long gone are the days of a rifle and grenades, and the training needed to operate modern stuff would slow things down.

The military man is leaving his post in a few months which might explain his outburst 

Maybe he's pointing out a few truths before he goes 

32 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

No doubt everyone parent would.

As I'm sure Ukrainian families have.

We're a million miles from conscription, and I think the military man knows it.

Just a case of making his point over recruitment difficulties. 

Fwiw, we have a reserve force, and also a number of former servicemen, all of whom would be called up first, for obvious reasons. 

Beyond that, we're a bit up shit creek if new conscripts are required. Long gone are the days of a rifle and grenades, and the training needed to operate modern stuff would slow things down.

The last couple of times the shit hit the fan it was conscripts that pulled us out of the muck. 

2 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

The military man is leaving his post in a few months which might explain his outburst 

Maybe he's pointing out a few truths before he goes 

Quite.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry is another one that I mentioned yesterday. 

No doubt he'd be dismissed as a gammon now, but his comments on the subject were significant. 

8 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Quite.

Rear Admiral Chris Parry is another one that I mentioned yesterday. 

No doubt he'd be dismissed as a gammon now, but his comments on the subject were significant. 

Thought you reckon everything in the garden is rosie?

I say its a complete shit show and our forces are suffering from underfunding and cuts like the rest of the country.

....cant wait for Ben Wallaces book.

join up, join up, live in a home not fit for rats

fuck me, weve gone to shit

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

No doubt everyone parent would.

As I'm sure Ukrainian families have.

We're a million miles from conscription, and I think the military man knows it.

Just a case of making his point over recruitment difficulties. 

Fwiw, we have a reserve force, and also a number of former servicemen, all of whom would be called up first, for obvious reasons. 

Beyond that, we're a bit up shit creek if new conscripts are required. Long gone are the days of a rifle and grenades, and the training needed to operate modern stuff would slow things down.

They’re not looking for canon fodder these days. All these video games your kids are playing are leading to them becoming proficient at keyboard and joystick skills and therefore able to be shoved in a cabin somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors flying drones 5000 miles away.

1 minute ago, MickyD said:

They’re not looking for canon fodder these days. All these video games your kids are playing are leading to them becoming proficient at keyboard and joystick skills and therefore able to be shoved in a cabin somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors flying drones 5000 miles away.

Indeed, except as we've seen in Ukraine, despite these weapons, many lives have been lost on front lines.

It's all very well having long distance, well equipped drones that will do the job you state, but as we've seen, they themselves can be attacked by other ones. And they're very expensive. 

In the end, loads of guys are closer to the enemy, with very small, often kamikaze drones that are operated over a relatively short distance.

Hence the certain degree of rowing back since the start of the war in Ukraine, on a heavily technical approach, by military experts. 

This was reported by news outlets earlier in the conflict, and no doubt strategists will be pouring over the data.

34 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Thought you reckon everything in the garden is rosie?

I say its a complete shit show and our forces are suffering from underfunding and cuts like the rest of the country.

....cant wait for Ben Wallaces book.

Never said everything is perfect. I don't share some of the doom-mongering, and reckon it's not helpful when Putin et al are doing their worst.

Over recent years, the funding level has remained a touch over 2% of gdp, and on that basis hasn't had significant cuts. Slight reduction yes.

As widely reported, the cold war peace dividend was widely adopted by many nations as a political decision. 

Unfortunately, the MOD hasn't had the best record on delivering value for money, like many government departments. Not sure that will ever change significantly. 

When it comes down to it; in peaceful times can a Goverment politically carry on with huge funding of its military, maybe at the expense of other investment?

Would it wash with the general public?

At the moment, it's politically expedient to do so, but it will still need paying for.

Still paying for covid, yet folk are unhappy about tax levels.

Chuck all this into the pot with the additional views on recruitment difficulties and we're in a bit of a predicament.

Definite wake up call for many European nations, and maybe for many others further afield.

 

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

 

In the end, loads of guys are closer to the enemy, with very small, often kamikaze drones that are operated over a relatively short distance.

 

Always seems an odd phrase that. I mean the original kamikaze pilots chose to do it. These poor old drones have no choice. Finally flying - "Oh yes, this is the life; nice weather for my first flight, this is what I was born to do. Here I am slipping the surly bonds of Earth, and dancing the skies on laughter-silvered wings. Cracking; oh look it's a tank. Nice tank that. Let's have a closer look? OK fair enough. But not that close...not THAT close!...oh fu......."

I'd be useless on the front lines obviously but there would be plenty of administrative/logistics roles people could do

I have wondered that looking over the Ukraine footage, how far do these small drones go? I assume they are using radio frequencies so can be jammed? What about those used by the US that can do hundreds of miles and drop a big bomb or dive right in with a warhead, I assume they use satellite tech?

1 minute ago, jmjhb said:

I'd be useless on the front lines obviously but there would be plenty of administrative/logistics roles people could do

Aye, it would be much more technological these days.  But we also don't have the hardware.  Thankfully, neither does Russia because they have been obliterated all over Ukraine with frankly bugger all hardware from the west. HIMARS has probably paid for itself a thousand times over.