How would you vote ...

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

As the least sporty/athletic person I know, I would have been wasted on the Army if I had been subjected to National Service.  (That hasn't stopped me joining a military band though.)  For that reason, I think conscription is a bad idea per se.

A friend has dual British and Hungarian citizenship, and got served with his callup papers while living in Hungary.  He managed to get out of it by playing dumb throughout the interview and pretending he didn't know a word of Hungarian.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

No, Antonio....I have a good lawyer. I didn't do military service

You dirty privileged...

Seriously though, I would also probably have tried any possible way to escape it.

Yeah it's pretty crazy, the way it works in Germany right now. Only about 50% of 18-year olds are declared "medically fit" to serve......and of those, only about 50% ever actually get a letter telling them to report for duty.

Unfortunately, I was unlucky on both

What do you need to be "mentally fit" to serve in the military ? I thought officers prefered when their soldiers don't think too much.

Officers don't want loose cannons either (if you'll excuse the analogy).  If you're going to order someone to fly a helicopter somewhere you want to make sure the person receiving the orders is capable of carrying them out.  That takes training, skill and some sort of mental competence.  Repeat argument for tanks, artillery, drill, teamwork etc.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

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That's why I didn't react to it. You got me mixed up with andrewteale

No big deal, I sometimes also mix him up with myself and consequently am puzzled at what I wrote for a couple of instants. No idea why he has a Belgian avatar. Maybe this is an occasion for him to explain that.

My foreign trips this year are to Flanders.  Leuven and Ostend in May/June, Brugge in November.  I have some friends on the Flemish quiz circuit.

Seems as good an excuse as any to declare myself Belgian.