Call up Priority

[FTVS]

If this war goes ahead and the general public are called up and draughted into the army, what is the order of priority? eg a friend of mine just left the army and he is apparently first tranche after the reserves and the TA...?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Firstly, the pub for ten pints and then go to the recruiting centre and hope the booze will block the fact that if you refuse to join up, you'll be imprisoned for five years.

[Cycleman]

If anyone got 5yrs prison in 1939 for not signing surely that was a bonus?

[Hippy]

I do not wish to undermine the loyalty and bravery of our services gathering for the almost inevitable conflict, but I do not think we will see conscription in this country as a result of the Saddam Bash.

Let me explain. George Bush is not too popular in the USA, and let us not forget that an election is looming. The USA government is looking for any "legal" excuse to light the blue touchpaper in what it thinks will be a swift chop chop to Iraq and reduce most of it to rubble. I think the real reasons have been ventilated well enough, suffice it to say that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein is not the real agenda.

Now the USA requires some credibility on the world stage and President Bush has played the "special relationship" card to get Tony Blair to flit around the world to rehabiltate the image of the USA. Tony is a popular leadr abroad. He, and our troops, are required to give the USA credence, so that when Bush unleashes the missiles his country does not become an International outcast. The USA will provide the brave lads and the firepower, the UK will only be required to perform a support role and therefore conscription at home is unlikely.

As this USA foray will probably result in the Middle East erupting into self destruction I suspect we will try a few concilliatory gestures, but on the whole sit on the sidelines and wait for implosion to occur before marching in victorious and grab the broken assets.

History does repeat itself, although never to the exact circumstances.

[darth vader]

ha ha it is kind of ironic that they lock you away (from the fighting) if you won't fight.

there's no official list (though i assume the government will have one somewhere) but basically: TA (reserves) then ex-servicemen who volunteer and are "able-bodied", then "other military staff" (Cadet instructors etc.), then able-bodied non-servicemen volunteers. After that there's not much left before women* and children (*sorry not being sexist as i acknowledge that women fall into earlier categories)