Not content with buying unusable overpriced American tanks, subsidising the JSF whiz bang fighter plane, buying submarines that don't submerge.....the list goes on, nutty Australian Grand High Poobah for Warmaking and Pacific neighbour policing and the like, Dr Brendan Nelson has announced a new strategy to boost Australian human war making capabilities. People as old as 56 will be allowed to join up and can hang around until they are 60. A new wheelchair mounted battalion is to be established on the Gold Coast, while the dialysis squadron will be in South Australia.
Young people will have their sense of patriotic duty encouraged in the face of their current tendency to run a mile when given the chance to sign up, given the real potential that troops will end up actually fighting. Entrance requirements are being lowered and peoples characters rather than high school diplomas are going to be an increasing part of the selection process. The potential for conscription is being placed quietly on the table as the current government seeks to have the resources to keep check of Australias unruly neighbours.
These are exactly the same issues that America faces as young people increasingly vote with their feet and seek other options to spend their late teens and early twenties.
