Hooton hears a what? Why universal military service isn’t such a stupid idea
How military training could transform NZ society – Matthew Hooton
- Finance Minister Nicola Willis reports only 249 families receive the full valueof Christopher Luxon’s tax package.
- The Government plans to at least double defence spending, costing billions more annually.
- Introducing universal military service could provide social, economic, and fiscal benefits alongside increased defence investment.
I like Hooton’s idea of universal military service but I would call it ‘Universal Service’ and expand it from just military training to resilience building and volunteering at your local Marae or charity.
That sense of self identity and nationhood that we always whine about not being present during Waitangi Day takes effort and can’t simply be left up to the ‘free market’. The space where that national identity can take shape has to be universally applied in the form of mandatory public holidays and universal service and not left to be traded in by unscrupulous employers who if given half a chance would make ‘Hi Ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go’ the new National anthem.
Promoting Universal Service for every single 16, 17 and 18 year old not in education or training would help build up the self esteem of our young people while instilling strong civic values.
It would be a 10 month long arrangement each year.
It wouldn’t just be military training, it can be tree planting, environmentalism.
All Universal Service cadets would be paid for their time during their 10 months.
I would even go as far as demanding a new holiday – New Zealand Service day. The idea being that there is one day a year we all universally have off to help volunteer in society all on the same day.
It could be a mass planting, or cleaning up, or helping reach out to the elderly or migrant communities or anyone whose a bit different so we can all feel included.
You have to invest in the social infrastructure if you want to plant civic values.
What Hooton’s piece does is explore the loophole of what military spending amounts to, and conscription alongside resilience training as part of a Universal Service system would count towards our military spending.
This Government has billions to spend on military, why not channel some of that money towards social infrastructure that empowers young people, pays them and gives them a purpose if they are out of education.
Instead of starting uni at 18, students could do a Universal Service year and get paid to do it.
Empowering our 16, 17 and 18 year olds not in education with Universal Service programs while making a new public holiday for Universal Service is the type of ideas we need if we want to bond.
I think that it is incredibly important for the fabric of our society for us all to put down tools as citizens on specific days and all of us venture out into our amazing public spaces and be friendly with one another.
The importance of our civility in public towards each other, the importance of being tolerant while sharing the same space and the importance to actually stop working and enjoy doing nothing but spend time with our family, friends and whanau would do more to building that sense of nationhood than any other thing.
Don’t ask what Aotearoa New Zealand can do for you, ask what can you do for Aotearoa New Zealand!
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Martyn what you are talking about is ‘National Service’. It is a useful concept similar to the creation of the US ‘Civilian Conservation Corps’ in the depression years.
‘Military Service’ is in the hands of the Armed Services whose idea of training is making everybody make their beds so they all appear exactly the same and screaming like a mad bastard if someone does not do this.
‘Military Service’ like boot camps, is a concept to give hard ons and wet panties to Hooton, Seymour, Costello, Collins where they imagine themselves as miniature Napoleons marching at the head of the obedient masses.
Yep just as we need rescue helicopters we need people savvy in community and civil operations. Got to be better than bloody boot camps.
Yes just as we need a modern health system. If military service is run by Simeon Brown and National it would be a failure…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360676969/gisborne-health-crisis-doctor-vacancies-regional-hospital-have-hit-44
No no no to anything with the word ‘military’ in it. The military train people how to kill other people, that is part of their role, you send innocent, well relatively innocent young people mostly out there to become cannon fodder on the request of the government of the day who have decided, usually along with the United States that these other people needed to be fought.
Spending on the military is an abomination, imagine what that money could do for the poorest in our country, for our hospitals etc. Instead it is used to plan murder really.
Killing other people is what you get sent to prison for, but this is sanction murder by governments around the world. Especially the western world.
We should be setting ourselves up as a country ready and willing to negotiate for peace anywhere in the world. We all know that the US has to rely on endless wars to keep itself as top dog and to keep their economy going.
We have in this country thousands of people in Prison who could be out cleaning our rivers and doing other stuff for the society which they have apparently shat on. It is nuts to keep these people locked up, for mostly silly little things. I am not talking about rapists, murderers and paedophiles and others with serious violence problems, but truly don’t they really have serious mental health problems. That in itself means to me that they need to be treated with dignity, with humanity, learning new skills about how to live with respect and dignity. dignity.
great post .We spend our time trying to get our grand kids to respect others and to deal with the shit heads in the school without violence .Now you and Hooten want to send them to learn how to be trained killers .I have a friend who spent 4 years in the army and has struggled in the real world since .Another ex SAS member who went on missions all around the world has also dot done too well since leaving the army after being conditioned to be a killing machine and behaving like a robot .Both have failed in personal relationships since leaving service because of being unable to relate well to their partners due to the need to be in control of every one around them .
Bomber has officially lost the plot. There was a campaign during Vietnam war days in NZ to end compulsory military service, which was ultimately successful under the Kirk Labour Govt. Many members of the OHMS were arrested, imprisoned and surveilled for years.
Compulsory military involvement smacks of Kibbutzism which helped lead to the shit Israel is now in. Nothing wrong with community service but needs to be voluntary with buy in like Iwi and environmental groups do it.
“I think that it is incredibly important for the fabric of our society for us all to put down tools as citizens on specific days and all of us venture out into our amazing public spaces and learn to efficiently kill other human beings.”
Fixed for accuracy.
thats what I was thinking as well .
Fuck ME .While some form of personal disapline and self control training would help these young people, we first need to fix their mental health and welfare situation .Are we going to ensure that they all have a warm dry home and 3 great meals per day ?I would suggest not .
I guess some will be given the roll of driving around the streets every morning picking others up from under the bridges and derelict buildings they call home .Then they will be yelled at all day while they do shit jobs that no one else will do like picking up rubbish and cleaning out drains and the like .This will teach them fuck all except the low expectation society has for them .
I think Bomber is looking for something big picture to repair the fabric of the community torn apart by pure temple politics on the extremes of left and right. It’s a good aspiration and not impossible to achieve. Society does not progress in pure temple minority environments. Constitutions are written when most people agree on the same broad things.
Establishing a framework where all 18 years old’s complete 1 or 2 years community service whether military or endless other possibilities such as assisting in early child care centre’s would massively benefit both the young adults and society as a whole . . will something as simple and beneficial as this ever happen?
Of course not.
Before any such schemes can be contemplated, New Zealand needs to start the internationally recognised process towards neutrality.
Q: ‘How does a country aquire neutral status?’ google search
A: ‘A country can acquire neutral status by voluntarily choosing not to participate in a war between other countries and adhering to international law. This can be done through formal declarations or by adhering to the principle of neutrality as outlined in international conventions, like the Hague Conventions of 1907. Alternatively, a country can become a permanently neutral state through a treaty or its own declaration, committing to neutrality in all future wars, like Switzerland.
International Conventions:
Countries can become neutral by adhering to international law, like the Hague Conventions, which define the rights and duties of neutral powers.’
Wasn’t Collins talking about manufacturing drones the other day? We could start a PPP with Musk and sell our youth as Neuralink test subjects – win-win
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mental-health-shortages-minister-under-fire-for-hiding-worker-shortage-data/WXKNU2ZU25BUPNWMCI2FOKH6QY/
I wonder what Hooten thinks of this corrupt Government on mental health. Underfund the health system to balance the books. No wonder our country is in a much worse state under National than we were under Labour. Worse still we have a PM that just speaks CEO twaddle and many on this site swallow it hook, line and sinker.
Surprised there’s no mention of what the Nordics do.