Thread: national service that all greens and do gooders should serve

There is a difference between national service and a conscripted army.

I think governments use the term national service incorrectly as it sounds better than "conscripted military service".

That being said, I reckon the youth of today could do with a year of national service, whether military or civilian.

They expect to be treated like gentry yet do not offer anything in return: no concept of self sacrifice, everything is their right and must be handed over.

Yes, a generalisation, but broadly correct for the 90s generation.

In my very humble opinion, no-one should be in military service if they don't want to be there. Just like other professions, to quite a few it is a calling, I know when I first joined, I would have gladly done it for nothing, of course that changed when I discovered city women. [Expensive item]
People in the military reflect the values & attitudes of the general population, no amount of military service is going to fix the problems of troubled people, nor change radical attitudes. Ask any senior nco, of any service, they will tell of the disruptive influence some of these people have on the group. Best to let volunteers join if they want, and make society clean up its own mess. Bob

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

I think the one that is still resentful 40 plus years later because he is two years behind his peers needs to get over it and move on.

Dave.

He is long retired but still thinks of the monetary penalty he suffered by being a level or so below for the 8-10 years it took him to catch up professionally. He says he had to leave an employer he liked and had hoped to have a one job working life with as he was not receiving promotions in line with his peers as he had not had "time in grade" like them. His Divisional Manager told him and another returned Nasho that he didn't know what to do with them as they were 25 year olds doing 23 year old jobs and he didn't have 25 year old jobs to put them in. The company had a structured career path age based up to age 28 and merit based after that for promotions into the supervisory and management monthly paid staff.

we are society each and everyone of us we have to clean up our own mess to do this we have remove the dependence of welfare and take in the unemployed young to the defence dep if they want money

Originally Posted by richard4u2

sounds like you have a lot of mates who only think of themselves and dont give a toss about australia, my home.

Was Australia in danger of being invaded by the Vietnamese or anybody else for that matter?

So why did we need a conscript army?

Menzies entered the Vietnam conflict to curry favour with the USA and ensure US investment continued in Australia. Lives for dollars. He also had a policy of running election campaigns based on fear of the Red and Yellow Peril. An army fighting the Reds was great for campaigning. No one seemed to understand that the Vietnamese only wanted their countries independence after centuries of being oppressed by colonial powers.

If sufficient volunteers could not be raised for military service in peacetime then the terms and conditions of service needed improvement to the point where such employment became attractive.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

His Divisional Manager told him and another returned Nasho that he didn't know what to do with them as they were 25 year olds doing 23 year old jobs and he didn't have 25 year old jobs to put them in.

Hi,
I did very nicely thank you from my 6 years RAAF to avoid conscription, when I applied for a job on discharge.
I had been given the job, and personnel were sorting out pay scales, which was quite a $$ range for the position I had applied for.
I got slotted into one of the lower pay grades, and I queried why, and what were the criteria for the top scale.
I was told that being only 24 yrs old, I didn't have the 'adult' experience of at least 5 years pay scale of an adult over 21.
I requested he ring the RAAF recruiting officer in town to confirm that I had actually just completed 6 years service on 'adult' pay, and was instantly promoted to the top of that pay scale.
Thank you very much Mr. Airforce!

cheers

Originally Posted by jakeslouw

[snip]

They expect to be treated like gentry yet do not offer anything in return: no concept of self sacrifice, everything is their right and must be handed over.

Yes, a generalisation, but broadly correct for the 90s generation.

We were talking about the sense of 'entitlement' that has pervaded society recently on another thread and Inc mentioned that the worst customers he encountered in his shop were older women and middle aged, white collar men.

He reckoned the kids were the most polite, patient and nice of the lot, so go figure.

There are plenty of 'Gen Y' in the military right now. Just as there is X'ers and Boomers. Professionals working in a professional Defence Force. The generation you are from is irrelevant, the type of person you are is the central issue.

Some of us need to start working from a base of facts, not rubbish they dream up to justify their insular views.

As for National Service? The military don't want conscripts. They are too busy to hold the hands of societies dregs.

Cheers,

Adam