[diamondgeezer]

You don't need to be a copper to bash hippes. Just a stick or a cricket bat or something

[Knight Templar]

Orignally posted by Levyathan

You should urgently buy a new encyclopaedia.

Came right off of Encarta.com boyo

[Blue Lion]

Originally posted by wEvil




 

Did I spell something wrong?

[Anaz]

I think that he is smacking you because you wouldn't mind it that much, not because you spelled sommat wrong.

It is probably because we are all computer geeks, and would be loath to abandon our precious box for more than a few days at a time (not to mention an internet connection...)

[Deepblue]

Shrivles in terror at the mention of disconnection. Goes to cave and hugs modem. "My own, my precioussssss"

[Anaz]

Originally posted by Deepblue
Shrivles in terror at the mention of disconnection. Goes to cave and hugs modem. "My own, my precioussssss"

Sad but true...

[diamondgeezer]

RAF basic officer training is six months, and I won't be able to have my computer with me while I'm living in barracks...



That's assuming they actually let me in...

[Levyathan]

*has eighteen months before having to go to the army*

Actually, I don't know how it works around here. I might be able to stay out.

[Blue Lion]

Originally posted by Analazon
I think that he is smacking you because you wouldn't mind it that much, not because you spelled sommat wrong.

It is probably because we are all computer geeks, and would be loath to abandon our precious box for more than a few days at a time (not to mention an internet connection...)

I was....joking...k?

[mikhael]

Originally posted by wEvil
provided boot camp doesnt kill them

Good point: most career civilians couldn't make it through the Air Force's pathetic rendition of bootcamp. Imagine if they had to go through HARD bootcamp, like the Marines?

I don't think this guy is actually looking for mandatory military service. He's looking to raise a warning flag. How many mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, will keep up their mindless warmongering chants, if its THEIR relatives that are going to be slogging in the (figurative) trenches? The average american citizen doesn't give one rotting rat's ass about who actually has to prosecute the wars for which they cheer. Seaman Ricky J. Recruit and Corporal Fred Mudfoot are faceless to them. Mandatory service puts a more immediate--more personal--face on the whole thing.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Shrike
Conscript soldiers are almost invariably inferior to volunteers, because they don't want to be there.  

This is going to shock you:

Most people who volunteered for the military don't want to be there either.

[Blue Lion]

Bah, i know a guy who's in the marines who is royally pissed cause he hurt his knee and is now stuck here while his twin brother is in Afghanistan, I swear this guys's gonna fly over there himself one day on his own.

[Shrike]

Originally posted by mikhael
Most people who volunteered for the military don't want to be there either.

Yes, but it was their choice to begin with.

I asked a friend of mine in the Canadian Forces his opinion on the matter.  His reply:
[q]Well, *I* want to be in the CF.  If not in the army as a whole then certainly in my chosen trade.

Most people I know in the army like it a lot.  It's fun work, and once you get a bit of time under your belt it's very easy money (compared to civvie jobs demanding equal qualification).[/q]

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Analazon
It is probably because we are all computer geeks, and would be loath to abandon our precious box for more than a few days at a time (not to mention an internet connection...)

*ahem*

I'd actually support the bill if I had any say. Why? I've seen the effect that military service has on a person - especially right after high-school. They go in to the army as kiddies, yet complete as mature grown-ups, with a lot more sense of responsibility than they would without military service. They learn respect both for life as well as for firearms, thus lowering the gun killings nation-wide by a significant amount. It also unites a culture in ways that can't be achevied in any other way; in America's example, the racil tension between whites, black, hispanics, etc etc would be lowered drastically after a cycle of military service together.

I served alongside Bedouins, Druze, Russians, and Ethiopians during my 3 years of military service - not to mention all the more "standard" (sounds racial, but I can't think of a better way to put it, and frankly, I don't give a purple flying fart about political correctness) nationalities and racial backgrounds, such as Yemenite, Iraqi, Moroccan (sp?) and European/Western Jews. I made friends out of people I never would have even looked at on the street, got to know people I thought were more enemies than friends, and generally came out with a love of my country, family and friends that I didn't have before.

I cannot express how much I wanted to avoid military service before I went in, and likewise I cannot express how glad I am that I went through it all now (and still am going through it, with another month of reserves coming up in a month here).

[diamondgeezer]

You know, Sarny, I was reading that and thinking what a bloody intelligent and well crafted post that was, until the purple fart bit made me snigger

You talk a lot of sense for an admin, Sandwich. Just shame the smart guys never end up running the country, eh?

[Shrike]

Everyone who supports this concept, I suggest you look at just how many people there are in the US.  Assuming 3 month tours of duty, the US's military size would double, and three months and out barely justifies the training - they'll spend as long or longer training than they will doing actual work.  A collosal waste of resources for little tangible gain.

If they all did Sandwich's 3 years, that's roughly twelve million people under arms.  You could have a world war with that many people.

Look, Isreal has something like 7 million people, right?  The US has 280 million.

[Alikchi]

I long ago decided that I'm getting the hell out of this country and moving to Sweden.

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Alikchi

I long ago decided that I'm getting the hell out of this country and moving to Sweden.

I dunno, Holland doesn't sound too bad.. save i think i might like my own climate/scenery better. From what I hear, holland is kinda flat.

*finishs plan to build massive tractor beams and bring holland to KT*

 Mwuhahahahahahha

[CP5670]

I like the idea in general, but what actually "military service" is needs to be defined better. For example, if someone becomes a physicist and works on building new war technologies, that should definitely qualify. If you think about it, almost all ordinary jobs would work here, however indirectly, since the economy needs to be kept running during a war to finance military operations. Besides, the US military is certainly large enough to complete its objectives, and adding more men to it isn't going to make it whole lot more powerful given the way it operates; instead, add new kinds of missiles or something. Of course, there is the lack of order and discpline that the conventional military would fulfil, but that will always be there in a "free" society anyway.

Although this is never going to work the way this guy is going about it. If he is doing it so to thwart the objectives of the rest of the government and he needs to convince them to pass the act, he should at least not show his real goal so blatantly.

[Stunaep]

Originally posted by Analazon
grrrr....I don't like the whole concept of mandatory military service...

*grabs molotov cocktails and protest sign*

What, you DON'T have mandatory military service? Here in estonia, everyone between the age 18-24 has to serve at least 8 months in the military.

So you could study at university for 6 years, which is a applicable excuse, but  its still mandatory. I pity you americans.