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Should National Service be reintroduced in the UK?

Peace-time national military service was brought in in 1948, and the last men entered service in 1960.

The law applied to all healthy men aged 17-21 who had not registered as conscientious objectors.

Ever since then, there have been calls periodically to reinstate it for many reasons, but primarily to give youngsters aged between 18-20 some discipline and also to provide exercise and a different way of life.

Many people who had to go into National Service now look back on this time nostalgically but tend to forget living in huts with just a simple coal burner in the winter or the discipline and hard exercise.

There are still many countries with mandatory military service, including Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Cyprus, Israel, and Turkey to name a few.

It’s always an interesting topic to debate.

What do you think? Do you think national service should be introduced back into the UK? Would it help teenagers with find a trade, encourage discipline and comradeship with others or does it belong in bygone eras of the 1940s, 50s and 60s?

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