This week, I have been annoyed by... Conscription.

Stand by your beds you horrible lot!

This particular topic only really annoyed me recently because I happened to have talked about it over lunch with collegues.

Glad to say, I missed the era when "National Service" was the rule, and if it were to be introduced, I would most probably be considered too old. (Where men in thier early-20s are forced to join the military for two (maybe) years.) At the time, the UK stopped it because the military were fed up with dealing with people who really did not want to be there and didn't know one end of a rifle from another.

Various uncivilised countries still practice it.

Conscription is quite frankly, a form of slavery. I don't want slaves defending my country. If the military needs more people to join, then make it more attractive. If they have enough people already, then issue is moot. If you need conscription, then ask yourself why these people are not joining up of thier own accord. (Improve pay or conditions maybe?)

Even during war time, there should still be no conscription. Demonstrate exactly what is at risk and people will join. If people are still not prepared to fight to defend the country, well then, that's democracy in action. If people find invasion by a foreign power preferrable to whoever is in charge at the time, who is anyone to argue?

For me, I would hate the military structure. I have enough trouble with large corporations. To be forced to obey some idiot merely because of the number of stripes on his jacket. No no no...

Thinking back to my early-20s, if I were writing his article then, I would probably have written that jail would be preferrable to joining up. With hindsight, and if faced with the reality of situaton, I would probably have settled for joining up, and doing the absolute minimum to get by and get out as soon as humanly possible.

I would resolve to make my commanding officer's work as big a misery as possible, and make the whole experience as unproductive as possible. It would not be me that made it unproductive. That would lie at the feet of whoever took two years out of life that I could have used to get educated or advancing my long term career.

I was raised (by a proud former Royal Marine who served in WW2, no less) to question authority and to only give my respect to those who deserve it. Those who would take a law-abiding citizen into a military organisation against his will have lost so much of my respect, they should consider themselves honoured if a day goes my without me abusing them.

If punishments/jail/etc would ultimately await me, then congratulations, you've turned someone who could have been a productive member of society into a criminal.

At least I have my hidden homosexuality and quaker membership to fall back on.