National Service for Thugs?

Listen, I was a regular soldier in the 50s and 60s, in a standing army probably ten times the size of today's. The least liked duty, was to be posted to the Depot, where the Nat. Service bods were 'imprisoned'. Yes, in a lot of cases N.S. was merely a prison to the unhappy and reluctant conscripts, and a great number of regulars were 'tied up' nursemaiding / wardering them. [Not to mention chasing after 'runners'!] We no longer have the regulars to undertake these duties, in fact, barely enough to undertake all the duties foisted onto them by our politicos. So who is going to supervise these recalcitrant thugs during their 'National Service'? If you ask for volunteers, it might be that there will be sufficient willing to serve out their pension time playing at being warders, but the present overseas postings would become impossible - no troops left!

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