Should national service be brought back in to the UK????

Question

Should national service be brought back in to the UK????

Answer 1

I happen to think that it would be a good idea

Answer 2

Yea, get rid of all these nasty chavs.

Answer 3

Without a shadow of a doubt,  it would teach a lot of the youngsters (mailny 17 & 18 year olds) that hang around street corners drinking and been a nuisance a little respect for the good people that live amongst, the ones with ASBO's should be placed first in the queue.

The 2 years national service would do them a world of good, see a little of the world,possibly teach them a trade, bit of money in their pocket and so on.

Answer 4

yes, absolutely

Answer 5

This is a very old debate: take all the ill-disciplined, criminal and anti-social bullies off the streets and put them in the army, where - hopefully - they will learn some skills, discipline, decency, respect for law and order, and some patriotism.

The counter-argument has always been that it does not sound like a very good idea to take all those ill-disciplined, criminal and anti-social people, lump them together, make them physically fit and teach them how to kill, before you put them back onto the street and back into unemployment, while hoping that you MIGHT have succeeded in changing their character.

The argument is best summed up in the first episodes of "Yes, Prime Minister", for example in the following scene:

Sir Humphrey tries to teach Bernard about the worthlessness of polls, telling him to imagine he'll be interviewed:

"Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the number of young people without jobs?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a lack of discipline in our Comprehensive schools?"

Bernard: "Yes!"

Sir Humphrey: "Do you think young people welcome some authority and leadership in their lives?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Do you think they respond to a challenge?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Would you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?"

Bernard: "Oh...well, I suppose I might be."

Sir Humphrey: "Yes or No?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Of course you would, Bernard. After all you told you can't say no to that. So they don't mention the first five questions and they publish the last one."

[...] So, alternatively, the young lady can get the opposite result."

Bernard: "How?"

Sir Humphrey: "Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the danger of war?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the growth of armaments?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Do you think it is wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?"

Bernard: "Yes."

Sir Humphrey: "There you are. You see, Bernard, the perfect balanced sample."

Answer 6

for certain people yes, but it would also make it harder for the army to recruit: if its seen as a diciplinary thing rather then the "be the best" thing it is now, it may turn afew people away. The trouble with the ex cons doing it is that they do thier time then leave, with people who actually want to go work for them, they stick around for a decent amount of time.

If people come and go really quickly, the army doenst get to a level where people are of good standard, they just get to a basic level before the people leave as they have "done thier time"

Think national service is a good idea, but it needs to be spearate from those who train to be in the army.

Answer 7

Most certainly it might teach some of the young arrogant upstarts to show some respect

Answer 8

yes for people who can't find work this would be a great idea....

Answer 9

Yes.  it would help teach youngsters a lot these days.

Answer 10

yep

Answer 11

I don't think so for everyone.  If someone wishes to go to university to further their career, then I think they should be allowed to go.  It would be a good idea for people with no direction or prospects of finding a job.

Answer 12

Yes wish they would fetch it back it would make more of the young men self respect for them selfs and others and even the imigrants would have to doit too and make the country a better place again.

Answer 13

i think it would be a good idea, and knock some of this anti social behaviour out of the youth of today

Answer 14

If you mean a purely military national service then no.  I can see an argument for a broader based national service.

The sense of duty and responsibility for others is missing in to many young people.  That problem starts in schools. I am not sure that national service would work, without a change in school education as well.

I can just imagine hordes of kids having anxiety attacks when they are relieved of their mobile phones outside the barracks. Most teenagers are not fit enough to do national service, they would probably be stuck in basic training until they were discharged.

Answer 15

The armed forces don't WANT a bunch of unwilling, uneducated yobs in their ranks - the modern armed forces need highly motivated, intelligent volunteers, as it takes a lot of money to train soldiers and airmen on modern weaponry, not like in the old days when conscripts were just cannon fodder.

Answer 16

1. The s*x Discrimination legislation would make it unlawful to discriminate against either gender -- so it would have to be for both girls and boys.  With so many girls using teenage pregnancy as a career move, what's the betting that it would be a poplar way of getting out of national service? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/thi...

2. Youngsters are already financially crippled with repaying the student loan. Unless national service were coupled with some sort of free ride at university, this burden would become intolerable.

3. Muslims would find it incompatible with their religious beliefs to serve in the forces. Muslim girls would make a fuss about wearing uniform. There would be great scope for undercover terrorist activities.

4. Human rights lawyers would have a field day and the human rights legislation would be given new applications we'd never dreamed of, especially when it came to right to family life, right to religious beliefs, etc.

Answer 17

ABSOLUTELY!!