Well 'ard

As part of my very expensive education, I spent most Thursday afternoons playing at soldiers in the CCF = Combined Cadet Force. It was fashionable to be disaffected and cynical about these activities and so it was largely a waste of my time. My older brother otoh joined the naval wing of the CCF and got in some sailing and knots&splices; although he/we were getting that anyway at home. The Brother also practiced to become a crack shot and won a medal for target shooting at Bisley. I'd like to say that I was a dedicated and principled peacenik but I wasn't - I just wanted to be let drift on alone. I was born 10 years and 10 days after the D-day and we played at being Spitfires [budda budda budda] and Messerschmidts, in the same way as kids-today do Call of Duty. Cleaning, carrying and firing a rifle was irrelevant as a life-skill. 

That-all notwithstanding, I seem to read a lot of military books! The latest was The Pilgrim, written and read by Colin Maclachlan. I don't intend to read the other three of these hard-chaw memoir clones.  I've had some success with browsing the Recently Published section of Borrowbox's ear-book library.  With exquisite good timing luck, I've been able to snag something before everyone else realises it's available. Take The Pilgrim: I borrowed it on 21 Jan, read its 5½ hours in 5½ days, and returned it asap; it is now not available until the middle of August! Maybe there are a bunch of young lads who want a reality check from killing terr'ists on their computers. 

Young Colin grew up in a broken home in Scotland, alternately ignored or thumped by his mother and step-dad. She took him by the ear to the recruiting office as soon as he turned 16 and left him to the tender mercies of the army. That was a bargain - he got less physical abuse in barracks than at home. As a self-sufficient, smart and competitive chap, he did very well. Not many of this peers had the skills or aptitude for book-learning, so young Colin was able to ace the tests as well as make his own bed and look neat and tidy. At 23 he was the youngest person to pass through the gruelling selection process for the elite special forces SAS 22 regiment. Outside of work, he has current partner, an ex, 3 kids, a couple of much younger sisters and good mates all over.  

Since at least the days of the Cardwell [1870] and Childers [1881] army reforms, recruitment and retention has been a perennial problem for the British [and most other] armed forces. 2025 saw applications to the Irish Defense Forces up one third [⅓] compared to the previous years. But loads of the applicants were rejected and more quit before training completed: that is a management failure [or check hazing below?]. In today's army, there is a concern that soldiering is all boredom and blanco and not for the Youth of Today: all hopped up on their violent computer games. Foreign travel is no inducement for kids who can fly to Lanzarote for what they get from the dole. It's a huge dilemma for Western democracies: there are definitely external threats to our cosy capitalist hegemony. Contrary to the fantasies of keyboard warriors, warfare has not reached drone vs drone exclusivity: all operated from bedrooms bunkers. The community needs some fit, equipped, trained [young] people to protect the old and weak and the infrastructure of the state or its allies, in extremely adverse conditions. So, the community needs to incentivize those who take one for the team. 

Soldiers are no longer inter-changeable, expendable standers-in-line who have been de-sensitized to follow orders, even at the risk of their own lives, even if they seem batshit, even when given by a known shit-head. Modern equipment requires skill to operate and maintain and that requires training. Some of those skills are transferrable to civilian life. Part of the package has to be a GI bill for those who have served time: the community must pick up the tab for college or collage or apprenticeships after military service. Meanwhile, we need to pay soldiers respectable = respectful wages and feed them really well. Also, increments to encourage promotion and taking more responsibility. And no more hazing: that doesn't mean making military training a soft touch; it's not for wimps or shirkers but bullying is dis-respectful and . . . counter-productive. And here's a novelty - what about some respect, relationships and courtesy training RRCT that might help recruiting and retaining dates, partners, spouses for really great sex.

As part of Bob's recruiting drive, here are the requirements for joining the Irish Defense forces.