This has to be a spoof, surely.

BrettHutton is actually a crusty old fart sunk deep in a big leather armchair, whisky and soda at his elbow, pretending to be a young whipper-snapper who's keen to do his bit in khaki for King and Country. Sitting there screwing his monocle into his one good eye ("lorst the other in the desert fighting Rommel") and extolling the virtues of a dose of army life for every jack-the-lad.

>>...boosting of our armed force numbers... increase in attendance relating to jobs, increase in creation of industry jobs, increase of part-time & full time military servicemen, further education applications such as universities, tafe colleges, training facilities and a more structured profitable economy.<<

And don't forget it takes them off the streets, egad.

Stops 'em hoonin' around in their souped-up Subarus, all leather jackets and fancy haircuts.

And self disciplin' dontchernow, that's what kids these days don't understand. A few weeks with my old Sar'n Major, that'll sort out the little softies. Give 'em a bit of spine. Get rid of those haircuts too.

Nope, not falling for it BrettHutton, your cover is blown.

Either that or you're the youngest fogey of them all.

...and again you guys squash people from a generation other than yours. Well done. Why do you think most people who sign up here are one post wonders....(it's rhetorical, don't bother).

National service doesn't NECESSARILY mean handing them a gun using them as 'cannon fodder'....that one's a WW1 term...isn't it?. Our current conflicts have resulted in the deaths of HOW MANY Au soldiers?. They can do basic training and then find themselves in support roles.

I guess we should expect the sort on comments from people whose generation created the issues we have with youths these days. Thanks guys, BRAVO.

I think that the old style service model deserves our scorn, it’s 19th cnt’ thinking, and I doubt anyone would even try to get it up, they’d be tied up in legal battles for a century!
And quickly out of a job.
The basic idea is still good though. A military style structure with the health, discipline, and fitness aspects, but no military training, no foreign work component.
They could be set “green” tasks, or helping the elderly or infirm, all the sorts of emergency work that the Yanks use their National Guard for at home.
I can see value in making it universal, just as many other countries do, and with voting rights as a reward. It would do a lot of good, add structure and discipline to their lives, and give them a greater sense of connection with the nation that supports them.

The most dangerous man in Obama's Govt is Polish born Zbigniew Brzezinski.He sees himself as being a being the grand chess player of global geo-politics.He has admitted that he used the CIA in Afghanistan to suck the Russians into war there.He has a passionate hatred of the Russians and could create a missile crisis in Poland and Georgia far worse than Cuba.

In his book of 1997 "The Grand Chessboard" he says;"...moreover as America becomes increasingly a multi-cultural society,it may find it becomes more difficult to fashion a consensus of foreign policy, except in the circumstances of a truely massive and widely perceived direct external threat."

If you don't want war,then get involved and see who our real enemies are.The US people are not evil.It is those like Brzezinski who manipulate things in the background who are the real threat to peace.

see; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-bxx7OyZ0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzRSzYZg22M&feature=related

Brett,
All bad jokes aside your piece simply repeats several generation myths.
Every generation thinks it knows better than the one before. History suggests that if they do have some extra wisdom it is at best incremental.
The crusty members of older generations argue 'put them in the forces it will make a man/woman of them' and 'it worked well for me'.

My dad was a survivor of the Burma Railway, loved the structured life. *But* he impressed on me to be in 'B' company (B there when they go and B there when they get back). He also trained the CMF (reserves) but always said they were under trained/under prepared (as he was) for unimaginable horrors of war. He maintained one needs to be committed to be a good soldier and conscripts were rarely that.
He died at 42 as a result of his war injuries.

Being a baby boomer I was in the generation of conscription (Vietnam). And that wasn't a raging great success. The Soldiers did their duty and deserve the respect. But the error was sending them there for someone else's power play. Read the *real* reasons for subsequent wars and weep for the waste of the genetic best of our races.

Then one needs to consider the historic resistance to conscription.

Notwithstanding that I would depending on details not be opposed to a “peace corp.” type of arrangement where a non discriminate gap year could be spent doing community activities before uni or work. That year could involve relevant basic training and field work.
In this way people with disabilities/elasticities/ special skills etc. could participate too and develop further personal/life skills including the self discipline. *Selected* wayward youth could be given this as an alternative option to remand or community service orders. i.e. away from comfort zones.

I learned so much from my time as a volunteer crisis intervention counsellor.

Examinator

When I was at Uni, Architects, Engineers and Interior Designers were expected to complete a minimum of humanities subjects each year towards their degree.

A better strategy would be to expand on what you have already outlined; work in the welfare sector as part of education. This would give a foundation in real life for future lawyers, economists, engineers, architects etc.

I don't get why Army life is always raised as the one-size-fits-all solution to "uppity" youth by the preceding generation. Clearly it hasn't worked in the past (take a good hard look at Baby Boomers), yet it is trotted out like an old suit that never quite fitted, but is considered better than nothing. It is not a solution and youth are no worse than previous generations.

PS
Checked your email?