FORMER Orange national serviceman Michael Mulhall is not the only person who thinks today’s young people could do with some compulsory military training.
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In 2014 British Prince Harry threw his two-bob’s worth in after a tour of Australia.
“Without a doubt, it does keep you out of trouble. You can make bad choices in life, but it’s how you recover from those and which path you end up taking,” the prince said.
Not sure what bad life choices Prince Harry might have made had he not signed up for military service, but let’s assume he would not have the same troubles as an 18-year-old Australian teenager who was not a spare heir to a royal throne.
Many pro-conscription activists argue it keeps troubled youth off the streets and teaches them discipline, but how did anti-social behaviour become such a problem that society can no longer trust parents to parent?
Troubled youths will always exist, and do we really want them trained in precision warcraft?
It is also a costly procedure. The gear needed for an average soldier costs about $30,000, not to mention each conscript would be paid about $48,000 per year.
Money would be better spent on early intervention and targeting youths’ passions and interests rather than quashing any individuality.
But at least they’re not bludging off the government and they’re learning life skills, some would argue.
But they are still bludging off the government and learning how to obey orders and how to follow rather than how to lead.
The army is not real life, it is a bubble, a completely different culture to the real world.
Why would we want to send our disaffected youth there?
But then perhaps with some regimented discipline Australia would not end up with characters like Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney and that probably trumps all other arguments.