The state of youths in UK today could we even fight a large scale war?

Aidan D

wow, i hate people who stereotype, not all youths are like what you see on the news, i'm 17 and i'm not like that one bit, in fact in July i'm joining the British Army, and in response to your question, yes i think we could fight a full scale war, our Armed Forces are amongst the best trained in the World, the RAF is possibly the best Air Force in the world, in terms of tonnage we have the 2nd largest Navy in the world, plus we have the backing of the USA, India, Canada, Australia and pretty much the whole of europe so yes we probably could

*sweetie~queen* mum 2 b xx :)

They all want to go to war thats what the goverment should do with these kids that cause trouble. I work for a attendence centre where we have kids on court orders for fighting and other crimes. They should be in the war where are troops are fighting a real fight and living in dangerous zones where anything can happen at any time. Im sure the young ones would want to come back to england after 6 months out in Iraq. They get away with anything now. Not all young ones are the same there are actully some young decent people out there that dont do anything wrong

thepawnbrokerroared

By a "large-scale war", I think you mean fighting a war with a conscripted army. I think if we tried that nowadays, there would be mass mutinies. Young people do not have the same deference to authority that existed during the last two world wars and it would be simply impossible to order them to their deaths and to expect them to obey without question.

zot

Do you REALLY want these kids to defend you that have little or no respect for anyone besides themselves , and treat authority with scorn and belligerence ????

smityondamic

The kids that like guns, give them one, tell them to raid a building, tell them to kill that guy, what do you think, they would love it, and not al youth is as bad as the media likes to make out, do not be fooled by the people in the media who blow things out of proportion so much there is no such thing almost as what they are reporting on, do some actual research before you ask these stupid questions.

Martin C

Im sure that some of what "Sweetie" says is true but im afraid nowadays (is that a word) they wouldn't last two minutes in our modern army

R'- @\/_1

well if it were a major war then probably yes because of conscription and also of our allies.

however to argue with peoples answers which recommend dropouts from secondary school and chavs the British Military does not want them.

the british military is quality not quantity, with such a small amount of troops compared to other countries and the lack of funding from the Government, Britain is still one of the best militaries in the world.

we have achieved this by our training and professionalism.

would you really want a 18yr old who was forced to go into the military to protect the UK. someone who dont give a **** about life and would you really want them to be protecting you?

to sweetie - where are you getting this **** from that all youth are ASBO loving chavs??? all this is media hype,

i rest my case

shevek_v

This is a perennial question, usually asked by conservatives, reactionaries and non-combatant militarists.

The same question was asked in England during the reign of Good Queen Bess before the Armada sailed. Again at the outset of the Boer War and before WW1 and WW2.

When push came to shove youth of those eras rose to the occasion. The present generation would do the same and will fight tyranny and fascism whether the threat is internal or external.

mindworms

any forthcoming large scale war in the western world is going to be a civil war in the first place.

Goatsucker the 2nd

I read a book written between ww1 and ww2 they said the same thing. We could fill the army with good soldiers if the need ever arose. It's in our blood. Napoleon commented on something appropriate here but i can't remember what it was. Something to do with our infantry and ability to create great soldiers being part of our nature and it being a big pain in his @ss.

frankturk50

Modern wars are not fought with large numbers of foot soldiers.Iraq had the worlds fourth largest army and it took 72 hours to destroy 200 divisions using superior technology.

THOMAS

Well, it worked before in two world wars and Korea. It might just work again providing the military training personnel are up to speed. Of course in any new large conflict directly threatening Great Britain as a whole conscription would apply. OK, so quite a few might attempt non-co-operation but in my experience most of 'em get fed up after a time with results of their behaviour and eventually come into line. The recruits from the razor gangs of the early 1900s came good in WW1 as they did again in WW2. The ex-cosh boys of the 1950s did OK in Korea. Personally, at age 73, I reckon most of our youngsters ain't that bad!

Mr. Prof

Simple answer NO

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