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It is fairly well accepted that whether or not you like it, the country that you live in is going to keep maintain and support a standing form of national defence. Unless you live in some form of incredibly advanced technological society this is pretty much going to consist of the people we refer to as The Armed Forces. In addition to that it's not really that difficult to defend having armed forces, even outside of the line of the occasionally paranoid need for national defence.
Interestingly enough, unless you live under the oppression of a tinpot dictator, one of the mandates of the activities of the national defence structure is that of the combination of civil defence and civil service (service not being quite the word I'm looking for but the other one has buggered off from my lexicon at the moment so service will suffice). A recent example of this mandate being fulfilled would be the armed forces covering for the british firefighters during their periods of srike action.
For those of you following the newsmedia coverage of the strikes, you will most likely have heard two common comments on their role in the whole situation. The first would be that under the conditions and taking into consideration their training and equiptment they acquited themselves exremely well. The second is that they were woefully inadequate to meet the challenge.
The second comment was primarily about their numbers and certainly included reference to their very dated equipment. Their training and skills, however, also came under fire.
One of the things that has long been a consideration of mine is that the armed forces could very well form part of the Emergency and Civil Services Structure as a supplementary element.
Theoretically they should be able to perform such tasks as emergency medical services and policekeeping. After all it is them that will be called in under severe circumstances.
I think that it would be beneficial to both us and them if they were to have some realtime experience of such things as paramedic operations and A&E surgery. It will allow them to be better prepared in the event that they are needed. Aside from this use and training of specialised forces, regular troops could also be put to regular use. Such ideas that come to mind are Catering Corps soup kitchens and military involvement in management of meterological damage.
Opinions anyone? |
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