Australia’s Army is very small compared to other Nations and with the current sabre rattling, reckless rhetoric and closing of Embassies, we could well find ourselves needing more military forces.

Now would.be the time to reintroduce National Service for all, possibly on the Swiss model but with only 3 months initial full time service (we can’t afford more) and then service in the Reserve until 60 years of age.
That way we could have millions of men and women trained in the use off arms and other military skills and ready to fight for Australia at very short notice.

We certainly need to increase our defence spending, and not just on the army. Conscription. Never popular in Australia. The services should be made as attractive as possible to get people to enilst. It's a job for professionals who actually want to do it; not for people forced to do it.

The last thing the army needs is a bunch of conscript petals getting in the way of the few fighting people we do have. Most of our city kids would be frightened that any gun was likely to get them on sight.

My son told a funny story from when he was training professional officer cadets for the navy. These are trained professionals, [Doctors, nurses, engineers etc.] who join as officer cadets, & receive some training before going to the military college in Canberra.

They all had to do some weapon training, including a couple of shoots at a rifle range with the Army Steyr rifle F88 Austeyr assault rifle. He described how long it took for many to understand how to actually aim a rifle. Having got that worked out they then had to lie prone on the mound, & shoot at the target. He was amazed to find that well over half of them would take careful aim as taught, then close their eyes, & screw up their faces,m ready for the big bang, before pulling the trigger.

Having gone through this he then added as an after thought, "oh, & the girls were even worse". The look on their faces when they had to pick up a rifle said heaps about their brain washing education.

These were volunteers, I doubt city petal conscripts are going to be much use defending anything, other than multi sex toilets, verbally

Compulsory National Service 18 months & with a voluntary military component if the candidate's mentality is suitable for a useful service career.
Having served to be a prerequisite for future unemployment benefits under normal physical circumstances.
The money saved on the reduced crime & corruption rate could go towards combating drug abuse.
Are you listening Prime Minister ?

Hi Issy,

I couldn't stop laughing at this latest thread of yours. It beats your thing about an electric gun best suited to Wile Coyote from the Acme Mail Order Co to try and shoot down Road Runner, bep, bep.

Already its flushed out the Usual Suspects, with their gung-ho nonsense. Conscripted army of younger people, naturally not including any of their type.

Paul
Hav,e a good laugh then think about the ramifications of electric guns that can be made from easily obtained components from legal unregulated sources.
If Australia is attacked; and which wealthy undefended country has never been attacked?
Our Army would last about two weeks, the deployment in Timor stretched them to the limit.

Is Mise,
Paul 1405's ability & mentality would make him utterly unsuitable even just for basic cannon fodder let alone a moving target.
He could possibly make a decoy because if a sniper got him into his sight he'd very likely crap himself laughing.

Hi Issy,

What you highlight is the fact Australia is weak militarily. I agree we are not and cannot be an assertive power in our region in that way. It's foolhardy for us to rely on a alliance with the Americans as our first line of defence. All that has been achieved thus far from our cozy relationship there is Australians being killed in America's aggressive wars, and having the rest of the world view us as a trained monkey of the United States.

I believe Australia should take a non-aligned position, simmilar to that of New Zealand where both sides of politics there agree on a neutral strategy for home defence. We can still remain in the Western sphere but exerting a higher degree of independence in international affairs.

Hi Indy,

Once the Seniors National Service is in full swing you will be taught the finer art of aggressive warfare using your walking sticks and zimmer frames as lethal weapons against those AK-47's of the enermy. I can picture it now, private Indy 2nd class, alone charging an enermy machine gun nest armed with nothing more than his walking stick!

Paul,
A non-alined position is only possible when one has a strong army, otherwise the country is a walkover.

when one has a strong army
Is Mise,
We have an Army of drug abusers, tattooed from head to toes adorned with studs & horns & dyed eyeballs. One would think that'd be enough to scare any approaching enemy into retreating !

Is Mise- With respect. Supporting fathers would go a long way to training the young how to fight and shoot- resilience and self sufficiency. The Chinese talk about Yin and Yang- we have too much 'Yin'- our boys have been trained to be Lotus Blossum's rather than Dragons. Yin is the receptive and Yang the active principle. It describes how obviously opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

Similarly for Jung's Archetypes.

Also Sanguine vs Choleric vs Melancholic vs Phlegmatic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments

By the way coil gun's are impressive and simple devices- not just for weaponry- thanks for bringing them up. While I don't own side or long arms myself there needs to be a balance in the hierarchy of power.

Hi Issy,

I have considered this matter carefully, with 2.3 million folks on aged welfare, a Seniors National Service is the ideal answer. I envisage with 1% excused through illness, and 300,000 expiring during basic training that will leave us with a Seniors Army of 2 million, the same size as the Chinese army. Alas our army will not be as well equipped as those buggers, howevet it will be wiser.

Ps I am considering excusing those over 100 years of age from service. Do you think that might be a little premature?

To answer our resident Dim wit, pensioners of today supported their old & now it's our turn to be rewarded for our efforts then !

Indy,

Why do some older Australians like you receive aged welfare, and others not. Cosidering you paid tax, they paid tax, you pissed yours away, they saved theirs for retirement. You migrated to Australia, we looked after you, was given money, a house and a good job. Went on the dole, then at 65 the pension, what more do you want.

My Seniors National Service is a chance for those, like you on aged welfare, to give a little back.

Larger military, I guess it couldn't hurt.
But I think we need more strategic military assets.
Nuclear armed submarines wouldn't hurt.
- But this is not our country anymore -

As for conscription... no, definitely not.
If this country ever becomes Australia for the Australians, then maybe I'll change my position.

We're not a nation anymore.
We're just a region with a manager under globalism.
We're not an independent nation with independent leadership.
Western countries that once had their own unique style and culture are now no different to each other than one Bunnings is different to another Bunnings.

Why are we supporting a NAZI government in Ukraine that the US installed when it overthrew the democratic elected government?
Why? anyone?

So no, if this is the type of shite Aussie conscripts would potentially get dragged into for the sake of the US who doesn't hold the moral imperative and likes staging coloured revolutions in foreign countries and installing people as PM of supposed democratic countries then NO.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

I told you all ages ago, there's a difference between national democracy where the citizens in the country decide their own future and international democracy, where sovereign nations are dictated to by foreign bureaucrats.

Under multiculturalism, in 1000 years everyone on this planet will look the same
- And they will all be ugly, it'll be a gross and horrible thing to see.
That's the future, if the idiots in this era don't succeed in blowing the planet up first.

AC,
They won’t aa be ugly; beauty is in the eye etc., there are some distinctly ugly ethnic groups at he moment, but to themselves they look OK.