Steel Icarus
we move
My grandpa (who was in WW2) said when the first Gulf War started if they reintroduced conscription he'd give me the money to get out of the country. His dad was a miner in Derbyshire during WW1 so didn't have to go.
Would you have fought for your country in World War One?
- Thread starter Kevbad the Bad
- Start date
My dads dad was in the Army. He served for three years and signed up because all the village did. From what I understand he was more concerned about being called a conchy and receiving white feathers, but he came home unscathed physically. He died in the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919/20. What a fucking waste.
The teenage me would probably have signed up, purely down to the same pressures and bravado.
The teenage me would probably have signed up, purely down to the same pressures and bravado.
imposs1904
Thread Killa'
I would have failed the medical with my flat feet. 
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
The RAF wasn’t formed till 1918. You would have had to join the army or Royal Naval Air Service.
souljacker
innit
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
I wouldn't as myself, it being a sick game by the ruling class and all that. But my great grandfather signed up, and that's no particular surprise as his life didn't seem to be going that well (the only public record of him is of a conviction for a minor theft). So he probably thought it would improve his life if anything. Instead it ended it. I used to think his death caused a lot of the multi-generational trauma in the family but these days I suspect it pre-dated that. So yes, as a version of me born back then, I would have gone.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Presumably you were all like, well good on him!
Yeah pretty much. Think it shows how strong the social pressure was though that the shame was passed onto the next generation who kept silent for decades. Proper communist family as well back then, he was a big trade union organiser. With a limp.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
26 counties is enough for any man.
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
From an early age, I'd been told that my dad's dad signed up underage, such was his ardent fervour to serve King and country. He was born in May 1900, and I was told he signed up in 1916 when he'd just turned 16, having lied about his age. The story was that the family were horrified, but pulled strings (they were well connected) to get him posted to Egypt, well away from any fighting and risk of death.
Only it turns out this was all complete and utter bollocks. I found his service records online last year, and he only joined up in May 1918, once he'd turned 18, and he saw no fighting as he was still in training by the time the war ended.
Fascinating in a way though. It seems he spent his life lying about signing up underage, presumably for the social kudos it gained him.
As for me, bollocks would I have signed up. I'm autistic enough for the whole social exclusion thing from being a conchie not to have bothered me at all, and no way would I want to be sent abroad to be shot at in the mud.
Only it turns out this was all complete and utter bollocks. I found his service records online last year, and he only joined up in May 1918, once he'd turned 18, and he saw no fighting as he was still in training by the time the war ended.
Fascinating in a way though. It seems he spent his life lying about signing up underage, presumably for the social kudos it gained him.
As for me, bollocks would I have signed up. I'm autistic enough for the whole social exclusion thing from being a conchie not to have bothered me at all, and no way would I want to be sent abroad to be shot at in the mud.
ska invita
back on the other side
id have come up with a cunning plan
id have died thats for sure, one way or another, probably flu
id have died thats for sure, one way or another, probably flu
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
dunno really
as someone further up the thread has said, i'd probably not have survived to adulthood (i was quite premature) so the question might not have arisen.
politically, the Independent Labour Party of the time is probably closest to my outlook, so would probably have followed their line and been a conscientious objector...
as someone further up the thread has said, i'd probably not have survived to adulthood (i was quite premature) so the question might not have arisen.
politically, the Independent Labour Party of the time is probably closest to my outlook, so would probably have followed their line and been a conscientious objector...
Yossarian
⏭️
With my family's past, I'd probably have ended up working in a shipyard or as a merchant seaman instead of going to war if I'd been 18 in 1914, though I might well have been tempted to join mates going off for an exciting adventure fighting in Europe for a few months.
If I was transported back to that time knowing what we know, I'd be a lot more inclined to fuck the whole thing off and spend the war years in Spain or another neutral country.
If I was transported back to that time knowing what we know, I'd be a lot more inclined to fuck the whole thing off and spend the war years in Spain or another neutral country.
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
My father did national service (and stayed on a bit after) and went to Malaya during the troubles there, when I was young I assumed he was in the jungle fighting, a belief he never did anything to dispel. When I got older and chatted to his mum about it, she laughed and said after a lot of effort on his part he'd got picked for the athletics team as soon as he arrived and spent his whole time there in some base in a safe city practicing hurdles and running round in circles.
He said after Malaya he nearly went to Kenya as some colonial policeman or something but decided against it. Presumably as they'd expect him to actually do something dangerous rather than drink beer and do some jogging in a safe area the bluffing dickhead.
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DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
It's almost impossible to overstate the immense social pressures to which men were subjected. Your nonce comparison is very accurate. My maternal grandfather deserted from the RN in WW2 and my grandmother still got shit off other women in the street over it in the 70s.
platinumsage
HaveMyPassword123
Given that most people at the time were been willing to sign up, it’s surely quite a bold to assertion to claim that you would somehow have been in a small minority.
Most of my forebears were Irish. However, they were unfortunately very proud of the empire as far as I am aware and alot of the men were in the British army. That said, I have always been anti-war and somewhat of a revolutionary. Who knows what the version of me all that time ago would have done though.
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Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
If you lived in Ireland and joined up you would have been in a small minority in that country. The willingness to join up probably varied around mainland UK, and between urban and rural. What is certain is that by time conscription was brought in war fever and war fervour was on the decline. That's why they needed conscription.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Joking aside just been chatting to my mum (she has been doing family history stuff) and apparently my great Grandmother's 2 brothers were in the Rising so may not be so far from the (alternative history) truth.
Not sure real me would have the bottle for it though.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
I’d have been chomping at the bit to get stuck in and give the boche a damned good thrashing, but I’ve got these feet, see. Always had ‘em, so I’m afraid I’ll have to sit this one out.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Thank fuck the army never needed to call upon the U75 regiment.
Within hours the group would have been riven with infighting, petty but never ending arguments and would have simultaneously insisted on over thinking the job at hand: which was to run toward a certain death over muddy fields on the orders of a public school boy general.
Within hours the group would have been riven with infighting, petty but never ending arguments and would have simultaneously insisted on over thinking the job at hand: which was to run toward a certain death over muddy fields on the orders of a public school boy general.
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
Judging by the poll results we might have been creating a better world instead. 12 of us anyway.
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