Yes, as Ironsides pointed out, freedom is neither free nor a guarantee in life.An idea that pooped up in another thread.
The pros and cons
Seeming we have a small population spread out so thin. Should Military training be an obligation?
Excellent point EB. Think of how much assistance would have been immediate, had the general populace had the adequate training to deal with a crisis instantly. SCB calls me her personal Mcgivor. Not because I;m a handsome little brute, :lol:, but because I can think on my feet, addapt, change and over come obstacles without hesitation. That is a skill I picked up all through my childhood, having grown up in our La belle provence, and service.Actually some trianing in how to execute orders and such as we don't know what crysis we can have , but it would be nice to say that we have our citizens to help out at a moments notice. The ice storm of 98 is a good example where we could of used that mobilization.
You are right, but we in Quebec seem to be the ones that will act up on it first.Bear Soveriegnty isn't a Quebec thing. I am worried of this country. We are slowly being pushed from outside our borders and inside too.
That's not fringe EB, that's fact. But sadly shall be viewed as loonacy by many.Heres a fringe
You are a citizen of this country, with rights and privilages then you owe the country soemthing back , not just taxollars.
No problem...Thanks for getting my quotes from the other thread.
Dear gawd yes!!! The fact that you see this may be the reason you understand my problem with weakness. I really hate to play devils advocate on the side of topic I'm on, but that fierce 'do it for myself' mentality is what has peprpuated that silent killer that has so plagued my later years EB, lol. Sometime sit can go to far.It is sad to say , me included that we are a society of a welfare mentality. We expect someone else to fix our problem yet we lay back and blame them whenit goes wrong or the price is to high to pay. We are losing our Canadian soveriegnty bit by bit. Soveriegnty is not just an affair of a country. It is a personal thing too. How can we expect the government to do it for us when we can't do it for ourselves.
That's the mindset I was referring to. People will always see the military as a tool of the Gov't. And the intellectual class have no idea what a tools is, let alone how useful they are.I believe military service can help that. Not just as a fighting force but self diciplined too. In a sense giving something back to the country , not the government.
This is so true EB, you know I retest for my First Aid and CPR bi-annually? Just for this very reason. I was once trained to kill (Along with save), but now I want to save only.Not being a burden to it but an able and ready hand to do your part.
Learning how to asses a problem or situation , how to divide it into simple task, how to think clearly . How to execute orders and how to delegate too. Not to mention some physical training , would help. Sound body and sound mind.
That's why I love ya EB.on a roll here , coffee's kicking in.
Arm chair quarterbacks, usually are, lol.I think it would help on a personal level and on a social level. We are too lazy.
An idea that pooped up in another thread.
The pros and cons
Seeming we have a small population spread out so thin. Should Military training be an obligation?
InterestingWhy would that idea work any better than forcing everyone to become policemen,fireman, paramedics?
Hence why both my boys, of their own valition, are serving in Canada's Cadet Corp.Mandatory Military Training at a young age would be benificial for the countries population... For example it add's experiences to your job resume....
No matter who applies, like I said before, you can and will get out of it, only what you put into it.Just a few points:
1. Military training does not guarantee decent character building. When I was undergoing infantry training, I could see many recruits succumbing to pressure to drink copious quantities of alcohol, or to sleep around, neither of which are good habbits. Add to that that I'd seen at least one recruit go from fairly innocent to a foul-mouthed biggot within 9 months flat! Terms like nigger, squaw, long-haired greecy civvy, Chinook, Paki, etc. were common, even among some instructors. One recruit was planning on joining the Freemen after his contract. One of the instructors was a collector of Nazi paraphernalia (not necessarily a bad thing in its own right as a hisorical interest, but within the cultural environment I found myself in, it was highly suspicious), etc. And these or similar attitudes were mainstream in the platoon.
So by no means does it necessarily guarantee character development. In some cases, it could degrade character. And it got me into a whole lot of heat for raising my voice about it, even just a little. Perhaps my mistake or naivety at the time was to complain directly to the perpetrators about it. I don't know if the situation would have been different had I kept my mouth shut and gone straight to a higher up. In fact, one of them was black and was often referred to as a nigger behind his back, by instructors, in the rpesence of all recruits. He would have loved to have heard from that. But I suppose I paid for my timidity and so eventually bad just went to worse as I continued complainig about that to the others in the platoon, building a wedge between us. This might also have influenced my views of the military afterwards.
Hence my submission to Ironsides, that it be more like the existing Cadet Corp. Simply put, it's an extension of the military, but civilian based and more to do with civil service, then military operations.2. As for training in helping the community, that is a totally separate thing from military training, and shouldn't be confused with it. Perhaps that's something we could better term community service training? But yes, that's something I could agree with.
I will agrre with this comment, having seen it, felt it and delt with it.Actually, I do have to take something back here. I had joined a professional force, meaning that mostly those interested in military matters would have joined, which might have explained the high concentration of racism, nationalism, etc., especially since it was infantry.
Interesting ideas.If we should be dealing with universal conscription, that could mean that alot of more mainstream people would be represented, along with more minority representation. Yet even with that, I'm sure the professional branch of the military would likley remain the same. Hard to say.
One possibility could be to just introduce compulsory martial arts lessons in schools. This would still provide fitness training and character training, and still provide fighting skills that could be useful in the event of a major war recuiring mass mobilization, but without forcing a militarist mindset on the whole population in peacetime. Again, maybe I'm wrong and universal service might in fact help the military to open its mind more broadly, I don't know. Maybe studying the situation in other countries could be a worthwhile research project for comparison.
Hence why both my boys, of their own valition, are serving in Canada's Cadet Corp.
No matter who applies, like I said before, you can and will get out of it, only what you put into it.
Hence my submission to Ironsides, that it be more like the existing Cadet Corp. Simply put, it's an extension of the military, but civilian based and more to do with civil service, then military operations.
I will agrre with this comment, having seen it, felt it and delt with it.Interesting ideas.
Very much my line of thinking!I think the military is a very fine, useful and necessary occupation BUT I don't think it's the complete answer. Given all the services the military can provide the main impetus is defense which often leads to war and killing. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to establish a service that would be a more sophisticated version of the Boy Scouts to complement the military.
So long as the service is internal and a benefit to the nation, sounds good.Another option could be a year of volunteer service with an organization of yor choice before a certain age. A Peace Corp could be one option, or if you choose a non-government one, then you must report it with the government along with proof that you did it. This could give many options too.
I am hearing already the obejections to such a thing in my head .How this sounds so totalitarian in design. That will be a major hurdle. That and people are lazy. Don't bother me attitude .I think the military is a very fine, useful and necessary occupation BUT I don't think it's the complete answer. Given all the services the military can provide the main impetus is defense which often leads to war and killing. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to establish a service that would be a more sophisticated version of the Boy Scouts to complement the military.
So long as the service is internal and a benefit to the nation, sounds good.