No, We Don’t Need Conscript Armies
The head of the British Army and Germany’s defense minister have each recently called for their countries to prepare to be on a war footing. Their call for mass mobilization is deeply unpopular — and at odds with the realities of modern warfare.
US soldiers salute the flag at US Army Camp Walker on February 4, 2005, in Daegu, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)
Early in January, Britain’s Telegraph revealed that the once-mighty Royal Navy was running out of sailors and would have to decommission two recently refurbished frigates to staff its new ships.
Reporting on a naval “recruitment crisis” exploded. The alleged posting on LinkedIn of a senior submarine job was widely ridiculed. Right-wing reporters blamed shortages on a “woke generation” not wanting to join — yet somehow also blamed the Navy’s inclusion staff for appealing to diverse recruits.
This was mostly a media circus — until another branch of the armed forces escalated it. General Sir Patrick Sanders, head of the British Army, warned that Britons would need to prepare to “place society on a war footing,” even hinting at the possibility of a return to conscription in the event of war with Russia.
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