We have got Putin and his myrmidons on our doorstep: the GIUK gap in the North Atlantic Ocean is a main thoroughfare for Russian shipping and aircraft, both of which are harassing and spying on us in order to test our defences, the same as they are doing in the Baltic Sea.
Sweden maintained a modern and powerful navy during the Cold War years to fend them off, despite being non-aligned to either side. I’m glad all the Nordic nations are now on the side of the good guys: Norway on its own in that region would have been a difficult country to defend. Had the USSR or modern-day Russia occupied Norway, they would be only an hour’s flying time from the UK.
Once Scotland becomes independent, I shall apply for the job of Defence Minister, and adopt the Finnish model of national defence and resilience (and civilian firearms legislation) into that country in totality. Also re-establish the old Viking-era direct trade links and become part of the Nordic Union of countries. Make Scotland Scandinavian Again!
I’ll work out the economic plan for all this over NAAFI break tomorrow… …and that’ll still be twice as long as the SNP has spent on it so far.
IIRC the scheme wasn’t intended for those who wanted to join as regulars, though graduates were encouraged to join the TA (and I think could skip some or all of the Reserve officer course).
But then it morphed a bit and people took it who then took undergrad sponsorship so maybe the Army weren’t sure where to go with it.
…and that anecdote goes towards proving my theory that our decline as a great nation mirrors the Decline of the English Posh Boy.
If you accept the premise that the United Kingdom should be governed by people with posh accents, as part of a thousand year-old feudal system with a thin veneer of ‘democracy’ on top of it, then we as a nation haven’t been producing leaders of the same quality as in the past, who could govern an Empire and win wars decisively.
Just having an expensive education doesn’t make you a real Posh Boy or Girl: you need to have a core of steel beneath the amiable exterior. Boris, Rees-Mogg, Stewart et al should have all been rowing Blues at Oxbridge, then served in a war as a platoon or company commander, gaining a Military Cross and a Mention in Dispatches or two, followed by Imperial service as governors of remote provinces, long before they started running our country.
We just don’t have those sort of people or opportunities anymore. Our politicians have neither the integrity, determination nor charisma they used to have to actually achieve anything, let alone make a proposal to have some sort of National Service a reality.
National Service would work during periods of high unemployment: when I joined the Army in 1984, there were many who had to join as an alternative to joining the three million on the dole queues, and the Youth Opportunities Programme also allowed you to join the junior army for a year. I had two friends who were ex-Junior Leaders who had enlisted under that programme and stayed on. That was in the days when the Infantry and some of the Corps had their own JL regiments.
As barmy as this idea might first seem. To overcome some of the accommodation issues, there could be some investment with Universities (who seem to have a lot of space) and rather than running at the age of 18 running by “school year”. Similar to how CCF are linked to regions in RAFAC. Universities could be linked to Regional training hubs with an aim of year 1 university students doing 13 weeks basic training.
Currently if you look at an “average term schedule” for universities.
Intro Week - Is usually around 3rd week of September
4 weeks off at Christmas
3 weeks off at Easter
Finishing Mid June that year.
If you adjusted this schedule so the “Army Basic training” started for 3 weeks at the start of September, 2 weeks over Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter and then 6 weeks “finishing training” the year would be done by Mid July, with the opportunity to study and train.
It’s the instructors I feel sorry for. They’ll no longer be able to use the line “civvies pay thousands for this” because everyone will be getting it for free!
Whenever a political party runs out of ideas, or even its will to live, “Being back National Service” appears on the agenda. It’s an policy which appeals to both the Left and the Right: a Citizens’ Army rather than a military elite for the former, and a method of turning children into adults for the latter. Neither side of the argument is based upon either military professionalism or the real defence needs of the nation.
Goodbye, Tories; it wasn’t very nice knowing you. Thiiiiings…will only get betterrrrr!!
…they certainly did for me, if not the UK Armed Forces after 1997: individual service people got incremental pay increases with the Pay 2000 programme, but various Labour defence ‘reviews’ (reduction of numbers by ‘natural wastage’ meant that could be paid for with a reduced defence budget).
…and that’ll still be twice as long as the SNP has spent on it so far.
Thiiiiings…will only get betterrrrr!!