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Posted by: Ben Higgins Nov 18 2011, 11:06 AM

Strange subject maybe but I was just thinking about and thought 'what the heck'..

National Service, where you are obligated to particpate in military service for a year or more, was discontinued in Britain in 1960 (if I'm right) but I'm aware that it is still a requirement in many European countries and others.

I just wondered, have any of you had to do it and if so, how did you manage with it ?

Posted by: Sollesnes Nov 18 2011, 12:28 PM

I am a pacifist, so refused and did civilian service instead.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Nov 18 2011, 12:32 PM

They told me that if there would be a war I could come and play guitar. Still not sure how it would help though

Posted by: Ben Higgins Nov 18 2011, 01:08 PM

It would make the opposition think 'Damn, if that's the calibre of guitar player that Sweden produces, what the hell are their soldiers going to be like ?? Let's retreat !!!!'



Yes, I think my friend in Germany managed to do that too

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Nov 18 2011, 01:10 PM

I guess you shred the enemy into pieces

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Nov 18 2011, 01:31 PM

Nah I think it's rather a matter of "while they're busy shooting the monkey on guitar we'll attack from behind"

Posted by: Gitarrero Nov 18 2011, 03:18 PM

Germans don't have to do it anymore since this summer.
Since I got asthma (and it was pretty bad when I was 18) I didn't have to do national or civilian service, but could enjoy the sweet life of a university student right after school

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 18 2011, 03:20 PM

An army? And to defend from who? Biggest world systems invest so much in the army that it's pointless.. Army is just for showing off, real power lies in... teaching guitar? Or whatever people are good at. I can imagine Britain choosing not to have an army in the 60ties, flower power, and piece being important topics

All jokes aside, there was national army in the past, but now it's privatized. There are still remains of the old army and social system here that is clumsy to some extent, but accepting the changes. The problem was that the army was costing the state too much.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Nov 18 2011, 03:58 PM

It was suspended here in Argentina around two years before it was my shift.

Posted by: Sinisa Cekic Nov 18 2011, 11:38 PM

You wanted to say professionalized ! Difference is quite big my friend

Posted by: Ulrik Nov 19 2011, 12:34 AM

I think I would have done the same, in that situation.
But I didn't even have to go to the test and phhysical exam, because my eyesight is really bad without lenses/glasses.

I really didn't know, that most countries in Europe does not have conscription:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_service

I don't know why we have it here, seems there are a lot people willing to join.
The vast majority of my friends did not serve.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 19 2011, 12:59 AM

Yes, sorry about the typo, it was professionalized.

Posted by: Daniel Realpe Nov 19 2011, 01:10 AM

here in Colombia it is mandatory, but I was lucky to never go, I'm a pacifist too and I believe armies exist because of fear, so I think we should eliminate fear first,

I didn't there was such a thing as civilian service! That's my idea you stole it

That's so great! I would be happy to do that

Posted by: casinostrat Nov 19 2011, 01:59 AM

Here in the States we don't really have anything like that. They do tend to send recruiters out to the the High Schools and Colleges to try and get people interested in joining up. I got several offers to join during my High school years, due to scoring very high on some aptitude tests for that sort of thing. I ended up not going, since I had a Kidney Transplant, and their physical requirements didn't allow that. I'm kind of like Gitarrero then, since due to health issues I went straight from High School to College

Posted by: WeePee Nov 19 2011, 09:14 AM

It's mandatory here in Finland but you can also do civilian service.
I was in 2004 for 9 months.
Now it's have been shortened to 4 months but of course you can go with 1 year to become sergeant or more.
Finland was in war in the 40's defending ourselves from attackers from our "lovely" neighbour in the east. It's still a big thing and fear. And our army is for only defending purposes. We're not trying to conquer anybody. Also Finns have helped in Kosovo, Afghanistan etc. to secure peace.

Next year we gonna have new president elections and we'll see if we gonna join Nato or not. Also government is cutting money also from the army because of the financial crisis.

But the army isn't a bad thing. It's also a good icebreaker in the bar Slip out the word army in the conversation with gang of men...people can go hours with funny stories that happened in the army.

And yes I'm one of those millions players who enjoy playing Battlefield 3

Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Nov 19 2011, 05:00 PM

2 weeks ago, i did what we call here "The Day of National Defence".
basically, it's a day where u spend just 9 hours in a military base, seeing how things work, etc,etc..
at the end, they give you....don't know how to say it in english, a Military ballot (Military Card) and they add you to the recruitment database.


And that's all here in Portugal.

incase you don't go and don't justify it, you may have to pay fine that goes from 250 euros to 1250 euros and you need to go next year.

Posted by: Sollesnes Nov 20 2011, 03:53 AM

Wow - 4 months, and in Portugal 9 hours. That's awesome. I've wasted so much time. Now civilian service is just 12 months in Norway (same as military), but it used to be much much longer.
But now it seems Norway can't afford sustaining the Civilian Service, and thus forcing national military service into being optional.