France To Reintroduce National Service

[JamesR123 0]

Macron looks to have brought national service back to France.  16 year olds will do a mandatory 1 month placement to promote civic unity.

 

There is a further 3 - 12 month optional placement after.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-44625625

 

Give me opinions!

 

I will go first because my opinion is likely to be the best one.

 

It is a really good idea.  The fact it is not necessarily linked to the military is good, because small population countries can't afford a non professional army (in terms of fitness to serve, not money).

 

Bringing youngsters together, outside of their comfort zone and getting them working together for society is a wonderful idea.

 

[Lockdoctor 10]

I absolutely agree with your opinion.

[Longcol 592]

18 minutes ago, JamesR123 said:

I will go first because my opinion is likely to be the best one.

 

It is a really good idea.  The fact it is not necessarily linked to the military is good, because small population countries can't afford a non professional army (in terms of fitness to serve, not money).

 

 

So modest.

 

What do you mean by a "small population country" ? France's population is about the same as that of the UK, 66 million. Switzerland - population 8.5 million has compulsory military service, as does Greece (11 million) and Cyprus (less than 1 million).

Edited July 26, 2019 by Longcol

[JamesR123 0]

2 minutes ago, Lockdoctor said:

I absolutely agree with your opinion.

That's because you are highly intelligent and probably very good looking.

 

1 minute ago, Longcol said:

So modest.

 

What do you mean by a "small population country" ? France's population is about the same as that of the UK, 66 million. Switzerland - population 8.5 million has compulsory military service, as does Greece (11 million) and Cyprus (less than 1 million).

None of those countries has a military worth talking about.

 

If you have a conscription based army, they are (in my opinion) generally less well trained and motivated (they generally don't want to be there).  In a war scenario, this can be overcome by sheer weight of numbers, but neither France nor the UK have the numbers of people to do that.

 

However, that isn't really the topic we are discussing.

 

What is your opinion on France's plans?

[Longcol 592]

7 minutes ago, JamesR123 said:

That's because you are highly intelligent and probably very good looking.

 

None of those countries has a military worth talking about.

 

If you have a conscription based army, they are (in my opinion) generally less well trained and motivated (they generally don't want to be there).  In a war scenario, this can be overcome by sheer weight of numbers, but neither France nor the UK have the numbers of people to do that.

 

However, that isn't really the topic we are discussing.

 

What is your opinion on France's plans?

France and the UK are pretty much tied for 20th most populous country on the planet.

 

I don't think the French plans will amount to a great deal - they seem to be little more than the work experience we've seen in the UK. Like many of Macron's ideas it is only a proposal at this stage and has already been wartered down from his original proposals. Can't see it working in rural areas like round where I live beyond free farm labour.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Longcol

[whiteowl 54]

I'm with Al Murray on this one (and I suspect most of the people espousing it) - bring back National Service, especially as I'm too old to have to do it myself  

[Borista336 0]

46 minutes ago, JamesR123 said:

Macron looks to have brought national service back to France.  16 year olds will do a mandatory 1 month placement to promote civic unity.

 

There is a further 3 - 12 month optional placement after.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-44625625

 

Give me opinions!

 

I will go first because my opinion is likely to be the best one.

 

It is a really good idea.  The fact it is not necessarily linked to the military is good, because small population countries can't afford a non professional army (in terms of fitness to serve, not money).

 

Bringing youngsters together, outside of their comfort zone and getting them working together for society is a wonderful idea.

 

i wish Boris would bring this back into the UK it might instill some backbone to todays youth and some sense of hardwork and respect.  it wouldnt even need to be the armed forces it could be a period of giving something back to society in social and general works in the community. minimum [period 6-12 months?

[Longcol 592]

6 minutes ago, Borista336 said:

i wish Boris would bring this back into the UK it might instill some backbone to todays youth and some sense of hardwork and respect.  it wouldnt even need to be the armed forces it could be a period of giving something back to society in social and general works in the community. minimum [period 6-12 months?

What about todays adults? Has anyone under 80 done national service?

[tinfoilhat 11]

National civic service, yes but armed forces, no.

[Pettytom 1]

27 minutes ago, Borista336 said:

i wish Boris would bring this back into the UK it might instill some backbone to todays youth and some sense of hardwork and respect.  it wouldnt even need to be the armed forces it could be a period of giving something back to society in social and general works in the community. minimum [period 6-12 months?

Why limit it to young people.

 

We have a cabal of older people intent upon destroying our nation. We should put them to work doing something more positive, such as toilet cleaning .

[Arthur Ritus 30]

Its probably not a good idea to train them to kill with their bare hands like foggy was.

[ads36 213]

as long as they're paid, i'm inclined to feel sympathetic to the idea.

 

otherwise, it's just going to get abused, massively.

 

and as above, why limit it to kids? - why not include it as a requirement for qualifying for the state pension?