Dear LPG,

I have a really good friend who is one of a growing number of people who never watches the news anymore because there is so little good news to report.  I asked her what she meant and her first reference was to the amount of crime that leads to young people getting stabbed, maimed and killed in our country these days. 

We went to Google and found some statistics that were frightening to say the least and the most terrifying thing about them was what we could find happening in the borough of Lewisham alone.

Having found the information I wanted to share some of it and also some of my thoughts on this subject.  Like many young men of my age, I spent 9 years in the army as soon as I left school.  I joined when I was 18 and it was a choice I made although I started my service at the time when National Service was coming to an end, and there were still some conscripts entering the service. 

Day to day life was tough but we learned discipline, teamwork, how to use weapons responsibly, problem solving skills, and strategy building not to mention the technical skills we signed up for, and though many spent their time anticipating getting out, we left having learned a lot more about being well-rounded human beings than we were when we went in.   I also got to see some of the world and learned to live with people from all walks of life; some of which have become life-long friends.

I am not sure that the adverts that I see on the telly which try to make this an attractive way of life are really doing a good job of drawing in recruits.  Life in any of the armed forces was supposed to be a learning curve rather than a place to have a bit of fun. 

As the years of this century so far have passed, I have to say that during a time when there are so few jobs for young people to do and so many films and television programmes that offer youngsters messages about drugs, crime and violence, National Service would give them a good start to adult life.   It appears to me that so many young people leave school and then attend college where they do very little, but have a couple of years’ added holiday, which leaves so many of them with so much time on their hands that they leave that education ready to become the worst aspect of the statistics included in the online lists that it did not take us very long to find.

 It is my belief that setting up another National Service programme, at least for youngsters who have no direction planned when they leave education, would give a taste of employment and change the way that the statistics of future years pan out for the better. 

JC, Brockley

JC asked us to pass on some of the information referred to in this message…

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