National service might do them good
ON TUESDAY last week The Chronicle carried a headline “Abbott Calls for National Service” and outlined former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s suggestion that 18-year-olds should “volunteer for a significant period of time in the community to improve social cohesion”.
Two days later, The Chronicle carried four headlines regarding the activities of our youth, quite typical reading fare most days, which read “Wild chase leads to jail”, “Driver had cannabis in saliva”, “We will find him (escapee)” and “Teen smashes loot in botched store holdup”.
Call me silly, but I saw a connection.
Not one of The Chronicle readers protested Mr Abbott’s idea through SMS and letters, and I can only assume the suggestion was well received.
Mr Abbott went on to say teens would not only serve time in the armed forces but could undertake other volunteering options like helping in Indigenous communities, aged care homes and peacekeeping abroad.
Since Federation compulsory military service has been introduced by federal governments on four occasions, and I must say Mt Abbott’s proposal is quite kind in contrast.
Our most recent national service scheme was between 1964 and 1972 and required all 20-year-old males to register with the, then, Department of Labour and National Service.
Subsequently their names were selected by way of a “birthday ballot” under which random selections were made based on one’s birth date.
I recall, in 1970, being on relief duty in Canberra and retiring to my room after dinner to, surprisingly, witness an early form of “Lotto” on television.
As the months whizzed by in the telecast and October approached, I found myself potentially looking at two years full-time in the regular army plus three years-part-time in the reserves.
Alas the 19th didn’t come up that evening and my failure with lotto has continued ever since.
But we were all expecting to go having watched our Fathers, Uncles, Great Uncles and Grandfathers do precisely the same thing generations before.
A cousin-in-law from Wee Waa, “Herb”, got lucky in the lotto and 12 months later had to call the department because they’d forgotten him – they shortened his term to 18 months, and he told me he loved the experience.
Likewise, my brother Garry’s number came up at the same time as Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister meaning the end of national service.
From 1965 to 1972, more than 15,300 national servicemen served in the Vietnam War, and sadly 200 were killed and 1279 wounded.
Few in our community could argue that the quality of some of our youngsters is poor, and I reckon Mr Abbott’s soft national service option might do them the world of good.