The General Political Thread

[Duuring]

You think people join the army because they want to use weapon systems in real combat and for 'the glory of going to war'?

[Conway]

Recruits are hard to come by because the folks coming of prime military age now have lived their whole lives in a never-ending war in other people's countries and the delusion of 'protecting your country' by means of bombing others half a world away has crumbled.

No that's really not why recruiment is down.

Also during peace time recruitment numbers tend to go down anyway. Few people want to train for years on weapon systems they might never get to use in real combat and they want the glory of going to war.

Most regular force soldiers now days never even see active combat or even fulfill combat roles. A lot of it nowadays is NATO deployments in allied countries, peacekeeping and border security.

For example there is about 15,000 personal in the RCAF but only 100 or so aircraft used in combat. 

[Riddlez]

You think people join the army because they want to use weapon systems in real combat and for 'the glory of going to war'?

yeah that's pretty much what soldiers want =\

For example there is about 15,000 personal in the RCAF but only 100 or so aircraft used in combat.

That's not weird at all.... the rate between combat personnel and support personnel in a combat theatre are about 1:8 to 1:12 nowadays and that's considering most of personnel in-theatre is land component. The air forces usually have a much higher rating so that's really not surprising...

No the reason is because of budget cuts, scandal of the past 5-10 years (Not just NLD) and the fact militaries around the West are struggling to explain why they still are relevant given we have enjoyed an unprecedented period of peace. People somehow think there will never be armed conflict again. In a world where everyone is on Social Media, the defense forces are still printing newspapers to explain why they're cool, while they have done next to nothing to make themselves competative in the job market. People just don't want to work there anymore. Given the economic growth, things aren;t helping.

Venezuela is getting spicy. I don't really see a way this is going to go down peacefully, as Maduro has the army's backing, and Guadio is either going to get whacked or arrested if no other major developments occur.

Yeah we're getting worried, too =P (no sarcasm intended)

[StevenChilton]

You think people join the army because they want to use weapon systems in real combat and for 'the glory of going to war'?

I really don't know why you think that's somehow controversial. Have you ever seen a military recruitment ad? The glory of war is one of the major themes they almost always draw upon. And yes, they usually show off plenty of hardware too.

Spoiler

Recruits are hard to come by because the folks coming of prime military age now have lived their whole lives in a never-ending war in other people's countries and the delusion of 'protecting your country' by means of bombing others half a world away has crumbled.

No that's really not why recruiment is down.

Also during peace time recruitment numbers tend to go down anyway. Few people want to train for years on weapon systems they might never get to use in real combat and they want the glory of going to war.

Most regular force soldiers now days never even see active combat or even fulfill combat roles. A lot of it nowadays is NATO deployments in allied countries, peacekeeping and border security.

For example there is about 15,000 personal in the RCAF but only 100 or so aircraft used in combat. 

[close]

I'm probably being a bit UK-centric. Most UK personnel will have seen service in Iraq/Afghanistan/Libya/Syria at some point. Also peacekeeping is active combat since firefights often take place and UN peacekeepers do get killed, plus the UN gives out medals for it.

[Riddlez]

More has happened on NATO missions the past 15 years though. UN missions are shit.

EDIT: Holy shit that ad is embarassing.

[Sgt.Winters]

More has happened on NATO missions the past 15 years though. UN missions are shit.

EDIT: Holy shit that ad is embarassing.

I liked it quite a bit, but I think they have to get creative since recruitment numbers and overall military enthusiasm have been lackluster for the past few years.

[Duuring]

Conscription?

[Sgt.Winters]

YE BREDDER

[Big Pete]

Less professional soldiers that join for glories of war = less psychopaths

[HaroldW]

But the BBC told me that the death of nationalism was a good thing

[Riddlez]

Less professional soldiers that join for glories of war = less psychopaths

No those two really aren't correlated.

[Yete111]

Conscription?

YES

[HaroldW]

I don't believe any progressive government in Europe (all of the west) would ever DREAM about implementing conscription.

[Big Pete]

Less professional soldiers that join for glories of war = less psychopaths

No those two really aren't correlated.

We all know how military works. You have a mass of people of which majority is there to get shot and die and small percentage of psychopaths that don't mind or enjoy killing and those do most of the killing.  That is why conscription is stupid, you just get more people that are ready to get killed but not kill.
Non of you 'glories of war'  seeking boys that are on this forum have killed anyone or even attempted to. If you did though you are either a psychopath or you are enjoying your PTSD.
But yes I agree coloration is not strong. Conscription army is expensive and shit, only thing it might be positive for is that you might learn some discipline and improve physique but than again it is wasting time when you coupd be learning or meeting a potential partner.

[Riddlez]

We all know how military works. You have a mass of people of which majority is there to get shot and die and small percentage of psychopaths that don't mind or enjoy killing and those do most of the killing.  That is why conscription is stupid, you just get more people that are ready to get killed but not kill.
Non of you 'glories of war'  seeking boys that are on this forum have killed anyone or even attempted to. If you did though you are either a psychopath or you are enjoying your PTSD.
But yes I agree coloration is not strong. Conscription army is expensive and shit, only thing it might be positive for is that you might learn some discipline and improve physique but than again it is wasting time when you coupd be learning or meeting a potential partner.

You really have no idea how the military works mate.

The majority is not there to get shot and die. Not at all. As I said, the majority is there to support a majority who do the fighting, of which most do not die. Nobody here claims to hunt the glories of war and you really don't have to have been in combat and either be a psychopath or have PTSD. Those are two extremes with a huge amount of in-between.

Third of, conscription army is not expensive at all. Considering most of them will be actually conscripted and only a small percentage professional, the biggest cost of any military (personnel) will be the smallest considering conscripts barely get paid. They also don't have to go on expensive training programs considering they're usually much shorter for conscripts, too.
And 'time could be better spent...' okay that is a matter of opinion but the longest conscription period I have heard of is two years so in the grand scheme of things.... not that long.