Dads army ?

esmozz said:
Although the Home guard were largely seen as one of the more ineffective military forces the UK has ever assembled, within it were much more elite units whose purpose was to embark on a guerrilla war (sabotage, assassination etc) against German forces in the event of an invasion. They, at least, were a bit more serious.
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I don't think it was that they were ineffective. Germany never managed to get troops to the UK so they didn't get to do much :D

They did man anti-air guns though.
 
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esmozz said:
Although the Home guard were largely seen as one of the more ineffective military forces the UK has ever assembled, within it were much more elite units whose purpose was to embark on a guerrilla war (sabotage, assassination etc) against German forces in the event of an invasion. They, at least, were a bit more serious.
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The point is that they're also a sustained threat to invaders and to malicious actors etc behind the lines.

I'd looked at volunteering but at the time you had to be 49 or under.

The danger will be if people get called up into an ICE mafia..

Now the 50+ bracket:
* cybersecurity - they could provide a skills set in protecting the UK, helping companies should people be called up, but they will need training and experience
* manning systems - they can provide skills and capabilities but they will need training and experience

If there is a war, I suspect:
* drones
* missiles
* underwater attack
* targeting of power, water, and mass centre attacks, along with the obvious first strikes on Portsmouth, Aldermaston, London, ship yards, silicon glen.
 
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NickK said:
The point is that they're also a sustained threat to invaders and to malicious actors etc behind the lines.

I'd looked at volunteering but at the time you had to be 49 or under.

The danger will be if people get called up into an ICE mafia..

Now the 50+ bracket:
* cybersecurity - they could provide a skills set in protecting the UK, helping companies should people be called up, but they will need training and experience
* manning systems - they can provide skills and capabilities but they will need training and experience

If there is a war, I suspect:
* drones
* missiles
* underwater attack
* targeting of power, water, and mass centre attacks, along with the obvious first strikes on Portsmouth, Aldermaston, London, ship yards, silicon glen.
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Not sure about cyber stuff, by the time they are trained and skilled enough the war might have finished.

I think it would look something similar to Russia's current system tbh. People in certain professions are not conscripted to the front lines, which includes IT. They are assigned to the cyber roles. But they can't call up to many or else their economy will grind to a halt entirely.
 
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Nasher said:
Not sure about cyber stuff, by the time they are trained and skilled enough the war might have finished.

I think it would look something similar to Russia's current system tbh. People in certain professions are not conscripted to the front lines, which includes IT. They are assigned to the cyber roles. But they can't call up to many or else their economy will grind to a halt entirely.
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Buy your 3D printers now, we'll all be printing parts at home..
 
NickK said:
The point is that they're also a sustained threat to invaders and to malicious actors etc behind the lines.

I'd looked at volunteering but at the time you had to be 49 or under.

The danger will be if people get called up into an ICE mafia..

Now the 50+ bracket:
* cybersecurity - they could provide a skills set in protecting the UK, helping companies should people be called up, but they will need training and experience
* manning systems - they can provide skills and capabilities but they will need training and experience

If there is a war, I suspect:
* drones
* missiles
* underwater attack
* targeting of power, water, and mass centre attacks, along with the obvious first strikes on Portsmouth, Aldermaston, London, ship yards, silicon glen.
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Raf reserves are up to age 55 - I must admit I'd looked at it but more because I'm rather bored more than anything. Current events seem to be rapidly accelerating though.

Personally I'd rather someone come up with the tech described in John Scalzi's 'Old Mans War' - I'd be up for that.
 
Worth buying your diesel generators for the garage before it all kicks off too.. Although given the predicted tipping point of diesel, petrol may be a better price option.
 
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esmozz said:
Raf reserves are up to age 55 - I must admit I'd looked at it but more because I'm rather bored more than anything. Current events seem to be rapidly accelerating though.

Personally I'd rather someone come up with the tech described in John Scalzi's 'Old Mans War' - I'd be up for that.
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AirTanker Sponsored Reserve pilot - worth a Google.
 
Penfold101 said:
AirTanker Sponsored Reserve pilot - worth a Google.
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Ah yes, thanks - I just had a quick check of that, it's looks like their not hiring at the moment, although I had looked at them in the past and they wanted A330 (or just any Airbus type, I can't quite remember) rated people. Which I'm not.

Mind you, if things really go that badly wrong I suppose it could change. I sincerely hope not though.
 
At school we had the Combined cadet force CCF this was in the nineteen sixties. We had an armoury of Lee Enfield .303 mostly bored down to take .22 for use on our 25 yard range. We did have .303 blanks for exercises and some parade functions. It is quite a long time ago now but i still remember the smell of cordite in the morning.

Most of the teaching staff had served in the second world war or had done national service. My house master was a captain, metalwork a squadron leader, PE an army corporal etc., etc.
 
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Hagar said:
At school we had the Combined cadet force CCF this was in the nineteen sixties. We had an armoury of Lee Enfield .303 mostly bored down to take .22 for use on our 25 yard range. We did have .303 blanks for exercises and some parade functions. It is quite a long time ago now but i still remember the smell of cordite in the morning.

Most of the teaching staff had served in the second world war or had done national service. My house master was a captain, metalwork a squadron leader, PE an army corporal etc., etc.
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We don't stand a chance do we - Can you imagine having a 303 in school nowadays.
We would have a lockdown on a spud gun. :cry::cry:
 
This latest idea — recalling veterans up to 65 — isn’t policy. It’s panic. It’s what happens when a government realises too late that nobody believes in it, and instead of asking why, it reaches for the nearest generation that still remembers duty.

Let’s strip away the spin.

If young people won’t fight for you, that isn’t a failure of youth — it’s a damning indictment of leadership. You’ve spent years telling them Britain is broken, shameful, historically suspect, and morally inferior. You’ve taught them that patriotism is cringe, borders are optional, and the country itself is something to be managed, not loved.

And now you’re surprised they won’t bleed for it?

So your answer is to turn around and say to the old hands:
“Go on then, one more time.”

Men and women who already served.
Who already paid the price.
Who already carried the weight — physically and mentally — long after the uniforms came off.

Here’s the bit you fundamentally don’t understand, Keef:
they didn’t fight for politicians.
They didn’t fight for slogans, diversity statements, or focus-grouped values.
They fought for their mates, their families, their homes — for a country that meant something.

That country has been chipped away, mocked, diluted, apologised for, and managed into mediocrity by people like you. And now, when the cupboard is bare, you think you can knock on the door of the very people you helped discard, and demand loyalty on command.

You can’t conscript belief.
You can’t recall pride.
And you sure as hell can’t outsource courage to men with replaced knees and broken backs because your government inspires none.

This isn’t strength.
It’s institutional cowardice — hiding behind past generations because you’ve failed the present one.

So let’s be crystal clear:

If the young won’t fight for you —
the old won’t either.

They already gave enough.
And they won’t be guilt-tripped into propping up a government that has no idea what Britain is, what it stands for, or why anyone should defend it.

You don’t have a recruitment problem.
You have a legitimacy problem.

And no amount grey hair, or nostalgic press releases will fix that.

Quite like this!
 
In a rather cold way, a country using their older population like this makes sense.

They've had their economically active time and are about to shift to being a burden on the country and are more likely to need health care; their reproductive period is over, they've done their bit for the population. To lose people from this group won't really have a long term effect on your country and in someways might help.

On the other hand losing your youth to war means that they will never get to economically contribute or reproduce and that might have long lasting effects on the country - I think what ever happens in the years to come both Russia and Ukraine are going to feel the pain of this war - both had poor reproductive rates anyway before the war.

The British army plan for ww3 was to use its reservists (TA at the time) to absorb the initial soviet thrust - cannon fodder to spare the regular forces so that they would be available for the counter attack.

Ukraine as shown that barely trained reservists with effective weapons could stop the Russians - especially when fighting in their own towns and villages against invaders who were stuck on the main road.

Would I rather it be me or my child that ends up conscripted in to a trench? Pass me the Rifle.
 
Perhaps many would think differently if confronted with the current situation in Ukraine and consider trench warfare as not as attractive as some war films portray.
 
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