Conscription and a citizens' army won't work - Gen Z won't fall for the propaganda about outdated warfare

This is apparently a consequence of army levels being in continual decline, at their lowest levels for more than 300 years. It’s like we’re back in 1914, or even 1939, but, to put it bluntly, without the patriotism and jingoistic attitudes. I know that many fellow 17-year-olds will not fight for a country, or a government that often fails to serve the younger generations.

Three million people volunteered for the First World War, prior to the introduction of military conscription… I doubt it’ll be the same if the war does escalate this time.

Patriotic emotions seem to be lacking in Gen Z, with the concept itself deemed as outdated, and patriotic symbolism (union jack flag, monarchy etc) are quite often associated with right wing, nationalistic values, which of course, many younger generations oppose. So, it’s utterly unlikely that we’ll be willing to fight for ‘King and Country’ this time, given that the younger generations are already sceptical about the royal family. According to YouGov, among 18 to 24 year olds, only 30 per cent say the monarchy is ‘good for Britain’ vs the 77 per cent of those aged 65+ who believe it is.

If they have to introduce military conscription, attitudes among younger generations will be wildly different to attitudes from the 20th century.

The whole concept of conscription is completely anachronistic anyway and is propelling Britain backwards. You’d think we would have learnt from history, through the barbarism of the two World Wars, what a futile waste of human life conscription brings. It’s an utter infringement of human rights, and betrayal of everything people have fought for in the past century. In a modern age with technological advancements, new machinery and a more highly trained army, surely military conscription undermines all this? Throwing young and inexperienced people into warfare seems irrational, and a skilled army is more important.

What’s concerning though is the fact that some people aren’t mildly concerned about this, arguing that Gen Z, the so-called ‘snowflake generation’ need a wake-up call, which conscription will deliver.

Some made generalisations such as the fact that we spend ‘too much time on TikTok’. The news on conscription has seemed to trigger the outpouring of criticism towards Gen Z, but I’m confident that anyone in the same position would share our reaction.

Human life should not be wasted because of government conflict. You’d think we would have moved past the concept of war being the solution to all problems, after learning about history. What’s the whole point of learning history, and about conflict from the past, if we simply don’t learn from our mistakes? Anyway, whatever happens, my Generation Z won’t fall for the propaganda this time.