Recruiting solution?

The Fortnite soldiers sprint across a bridge, seize their weapons and open fire on an unseen enemy. Hurling themselves over an obstacle course, they reach a warehouse full of suspicious crates. Eventually they arrive in a jungle, where they swim along a river before walking a tightrope. Then comes the message: "Live in Operation: Belong."

The video is part of a new campaign by the British Army to recruit young people. But some believe the Army should do without ads. Instead, you should have to join up whether you like it or not.

ConscriptionForced enrolment in the army. last existed in Britain from 1949 to 1963, in the form of national service. It applied to all able-bodied men between 17 and 21, and generally lasted for 18 months.

Over two million men were conscripted.¹ For many it involved travelling overseas for the first time - often to Germany, where there was fear of a Russian invasion. But eventually the government decided that nuclear deterrents made large armies irrelevant.

Now, however, the war in Ukraine and instability elsewhere have brought calls for national service to be revived. Last week General Sir Richard Sherriff, ex-deputy supreme allied commander of NatoThe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in 1949 to unite Western democracies in Europe and North America against the perceived growing threat of the USSR. It now has 31 members., said it was time to "think the unthinkable".²

The general argued that the best way to avoid war with Russia was "effective military deterrence, conventional and nuclear... So that means our armed forces have got to have the numbers, the capabilities, the logisticsThe planning and organisation of a project or operation., the training needed." The current numbers - around 74,000 - are just not big enough.

Britain's defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has suggested Finland as a possible model. Though it has a full-time army of just 20,000, it can call on a further 260,000 if necessary.

There are 84 other countries with compulsory military service.³ In Europe they include Austria, Estonia, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

For the present, the British government has ruled conscription out. As an alternative, experts are calling for a "citizen volunteer army" made up of people who choose to give some of their time to military training.

Some see conscription as a useful way of bringing young people from different backgrounds together and giving them a sense of discipline and purpose. Others see it as a waste of time. As one 1950s conscript put it:

"Here's the youth of the country, dissipatingGradually disappearing. their energies in utterly non-productive wasted activity, while the country, badly needing their labour, moulders and stagnates."

There are arguments, too, about whether conscripts are likely to play a useful role or simply end up as cannon fodder. Many of those butchered and kidnapped by HamasA militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK. on 7 October were 18-year-old conscripted Israelis. They included young women on surveillance duty who had warned of an impending attack but been ignored by their superiors.

A recent poll found that 30% of Britons under 40 would refuse to serve even if the country faced imminent invasion.⁴

Should we bring back national service?

Yes: It would help to create a sense of national unity and give discipline and direction to those who might otherwise lack motivation or drift into crime. It would also teach them valuable skills.

No: It would disrupt people's lives at a time when they could be benefiting from higher education or getting going on their careers. The recruits would be resentful and become ineffective soldiers.

Or... There should be some form of national service, but not necessarily military. Training young people to assist paramedics, firefighters or community workers would pay more immediate dividends.