National service

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National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes (most often focusing on military service). (Compulsory military service is more often known as conscription.) National service was common in the 20th century, and many young people spent one or more years of their emerging adulthood in such programmes. Compulsory military service typically requires all citizens, or all male citizens, to participate for a period of a year (more in some countries) during their youth, usually at some point between the age of 18 and their late twenties.

The term National Service is still currently used to describe compulsory military service programs in countries including Austria, Mexico, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Malaysia, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

1 United Kingdom
- 1.1 Peacetime service
- 1.2 Effect
2 Singapore
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] United Kingdom

Wartime conscription was used by the United Kingdom government during the latter part of World War I, but ceased at the termination of hostilities.

However, as a result of the deterorating international situation, Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of War, persuaded the Chamberlain cabinet to introduce it in a limited form on 27 April 1939. To sweeten the pill, only single men in a restricted age group were liable to be "called up", and were known as 'militiamen', to distinguish them from the regular army. (To emphasise this distinction, each man was issued with a civilian suit in addition to a uniform.) The original intention was for the first intake to undergo six months basic training before being discharged into an 'active' reserve (being recalled for short training periods and an annual camp). This was overtaken by the outbreak of war, and the first intake was absorbed into the army.

Conscription was progressively extended to include virtually the whole of the able bodied male population. In addition to those rejected for medical reasons, exceptions were made in other cases. Those engaged in vital industries or occupations were 'reserved' at a particular age, beyond which no-one in that job would be enlisted. (Lighthouse keepers were 'reserved' at the age of eighteen.) Later in the war, some conscripts were actually directed into the coal industry, the so-called 'Bevin Boys'. Provision was made for those with moral scruples. Those who were prepared to help the war effort, but were not prepared to bear arms, were enlisted into non-combatant roles or units. (Quakers, for example, often served in the Medical Corps, and some performed acts of gallantry under fire.) Those who refused to help the war effort had to justify their position to a Tribunal.

Britain was the only country in World War II to conscript single women.

Britain never officially demobilised, as conscription continued after the war ended. Those men and women already in the armed forces still had to satisfy a National Service engagement of a fixed term, but were given a release class determined by length of service and age. In practice, releases began in June, 1945, and the last of the wartime conscripts had been released by 1949. However, a special class of urgently need men (particularly those in the building trades) were released in 1945, although some restrictions on their immediate employment were supposed to be enforced. All women conscripts were released at the end of the war.

The system of wartime conscription during World War II, between 1939 and 1948, was officially called National Service, but is usually referred to as 'war service' in official documents relating to national insurance and state pensions.

[edit] Peacetime service

After World War II, peacetime conscription was used by the government between 1949 and 1960. In the United Kingdom, it is this period of peacetime conscription that is usually referred to as 'National Service'. It remains the only period of peacetime conscription in UK history, apart from the periods immediately before and after World War II.

National Service as peacetime conscription was formalized by the National Service Act 1948. From 1 January 1949, every healthy man between the ages of 17 and 21 was expected to serve in the armed forces for 18 months, and remain on the reserve list for four years thereafter. Men were exempt from National Service if they worked in three 'essential services', which were coal mining, farming and the merchant navy. In October 1950, in response to the Korean War, the service period was extended to two years, although the reserve list period was reduced by six months to compensate. National Servicemen who showed promise could be commissioned as officers. To fulfill the reserve list requirement, men in the National Service joined reserve forces like the Territorial Army. Thus, such forces expanded considerably between 1949 and 1963. Almost every town had units, and many had full regiments or battalions.

National Service formally ended on 31 December 1960. The last man called up for National Service, Private Fred Turner of the Army Catering Corps, was discharged on 7 May 1963. However, the last National Serviceman was Lieutenant Richard Vaughan of the Royal Army Pay Corps, who was discharged six days later on 13 May 1963. When National Service ended, many National Servicemen continued serving voluntarily. The British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy are now — once again — voluntary organizations. Occasionally, some call for a return to compulsory conscription.

In the UK, the end of National Service coincided with the rise of Pop culture, and the dawn of Beatlemania from around Christmas 1963. There was much public discussion at the time about "falling standards" and "long hair" as worn by The Beatles, the The Rolling Stones, and others. This (mild) controversy was epitomised in a satirical Pop Music recording Call up the Groups made by The Barron Knights, released in 1964, which suggested that such Pop Groups should be sent back on National Service to tame their wild ways - in fact John Lennon and Ringo Starr avoided national service by only a few months. The song satirised recent Pop hits by, respectively, The Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Rolling Stones, The Bachelors, The Dave Clark Five, and - inevitably - The Beatles.

[edit] Effect

Post-war National Service had a significant effect on many citizens, and on society and culture as a whole. Some National Servicemen went on to become famous. Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones played rock and roll while stationed in West Germany.^{[citation needed]} Authors like Leslie Thomas, David Lodge and David Findlay Clark wrote books based on their experiences (The Virgin Soldiers, Ginger You're Barmy etc).^{[citation needed]} Actor Oliver Reed, comedian Tony Hancock, and Hancock's writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson developed their talents while doing their National Service.^{[citation needed]}. Legendary DJ John Peel also became fascinated by the radio from listening to early rock-n-roll on Armed Forces Radio while stationed in North Wales.

On the other hand, National Service interrupted some men's careers, for example; John Clark, a former child actor, was tired of ubiquitous recognition and feared mockery in the armed forces, so he worked in the merchant navy on a Silver Line freighter for over 3 years. He quit early and, to avoid being called up, emigrated in November 1953 to Canada.

[edit] Singapore

Main article: National Service in Singapore

National Service was introduced in Singapore in 1967 to meet the critical need of defending Singapore following independence in 1965 and the anticipated withdrawal of British forces. A conscript system was implemented drawing on elements of the Swiss and Israeli conscription systems. Besides the military, national servicemen also serve in the police and civil defence forces.