I am lucky enough to be writing this in the Scottish Highlands where I have come with my much fitter brother to climb some peaks and walk amongst beautiful scenery. Both of us owe our interest and continued enthusiasm for the great outdoors to the Boy Scouts and to the volunteers who organised it and took us out into the wild countryside. I can still remember fondly “Skip” and John Pipe who did it all for free.
National Service?
I was interested in the idea that has been floated for youngsters to do some sort of “national service”. I cannot help feeling that it is aimed at the older electorate who feel that the apparently feckless young could benefit from National Service which would somehow knock them into shape. Rishi Sunak seems desperate to make sure that the older cohort of voters, who invariably turn out to vote, will support him.
Do the armed forces want National Service?
But we should look at the issue seriously before we judge whether it has merit or not. Do the armed forces want it? We live in dangerous times and need effective armed forces. At the moment they are under strength and underfunded. Do they want more recruits? Yes, but keen people who can be trained and developed, not reluctant youngsters who will require a considerable mount of their time to train them to anywhere near to the level needed, probably longer than the period they will be allocated to stay with them. At the moment army accommodation is in need of improvement, and pay and conditions need to be looked at, so it might be best to address those issues rather than talking about National Service.
Warfare is changing
In any case the nature of warfare is changing. The conflict in Ukraine shows that. It is no longer like the First World War where Lord Haig is reputed to have said “We will win because we have more soldiers”. The Russians tried the “meat grinder” approach of throwing untrained conscripts at Ukrainian front lines, and it did not work. Wars nowadays require sophisticated weapons and personnel. The Ukrainians have chased the Russian fleet out of the Black Sea by developing clever drones and training people to use them. Worryingly for us the Russians now seem to be training their soldiers better and developing more sophisticated equipment. It is doubtful if reluctant conscripts for a short period will be of much use.
Finland
Supporters of the idea will no doubt point to Finland which does require all citizens to train in the forces or one of the emergency services. They have a long land border with Russia and have already been invaded by them once before in 1939. They will need large number of personnel should the Russians attack again, so the idea makes sense to them. All Finns must do compulsory training and be part of the reserves. It is more like the TA that National Service.
Voluntary service
Governments of all stripes have tried to develop schemes of citizen training or voluntary service for young people, recognising there is an important issue here. Back in 1963 I did six months community service before going to university with an organisation called Community Service Volunteers. Later on, I worked for an outfit called the Young Volunteer Force which organised voluntary work for young people. That is how I moved to Newcastle.
Such organisations need support and funding, which is often in short supply. Governments have a habit of funding them for a year or two and then hope local organisations will pick up the tab. I remember much of my time was taken in trying to scrounge funds from local sources.
Funding
But governments all think some form of community work with young people is a good idea. David Cameron enthused about a scheme called the National Citizen Service which at its peak engaged 100,000 16 year olds in four weeks training to enable them to be useful members of their communities. David Blunkett, the former Education Secretary, was one of the founders. But he has commented lately that the funding has been cut and the training reduced by guess who? Rishi Sunak, that enthusiast for involving the young.
Such schemes cost money. Organisations have to be paid if they take volunteers to ensure that they are properly supervised, and training has to be provided for the volunteers themselves. David Blunkett estimated about £1 million for every 100 participants.
Outdoor education
To come back to where I started, the value of outdoor education. It is a major part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Scout training programmes. It would be for a Citizen Service Scheme too. The army of course has a considerable amount of outdoor training. It is about more than going off to the Lakes for a couple of days to do canoeing and abseiling. The whole idea is to develop virtues such as initiative, self-reliance, sharing and planning. If you have to go on a supervised expedition in wild country you need to plan the route, get on with the others, share the food and know what to do if anything goes wrong. That is why it is worthwhile.
What could the government do?
So rather than cutting other budgets to fund a fanciful scheme, the next government could make sure that the organisations which are already there doing valuable work with young people receive the funding they need and deserve.
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