*While I claim that saying as being mine – it is, as far as I know, because I just made it up – it is obviously a derivation of the very old adage: “Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away”. That ‘fading away’ being only possible by surviving any battles in which they took part. And ‘old soldiers’ from way back in the distant past, were always required to take part – often at close quarters – in a great many battles throughout their potentially very short careers. That kind of defines what ‘soldiering’ is all about.
So, If You Are Going To Have An Army, You’d Better Make It A Real One (if you can).
Most modern countries today, recruit in some way what they refer to as an ‘army’, mainly for defensive purposes, although the definition of ‘defence’ seems to be fairly elastic, and in some countries, especially western nations, the role cannot be taken at all seriously.
But what is the true value of those armies? Are they really ‘soldiers’? Or are they filled with insecure people who are basically ill-informed or influenced, who are presented with few alternative opportunities for other means of raising income, or who are in some way mandated to following a military path?
I, myself, falling into the second category of recruit just listed, back in the ’70s of the previous century voluntarily engaged in a nine year career as a statistical worker in the British Royal Air Force (having the qualifications to be assigned to that particularly elevated role among those open to ‘other ranks’ – the second highest pre-requisites for all RAF jobs at the time). I was ‘knocked back’ – a peculiarly Australian idiom – from my earlier application for Officer training as a fighter pilot (what was I thinking? I am highly uncoordinated, physically). I was offered a position as Sergeant (aircrew) as consolation prize, but having been rebuffed I rebuffed them back :), eventually enlisting a year or so later as an ‘other rank’ – for other reasons.
While I never knew back then just what I wanted to do with my life, I was working as a factory supervisor in a chicken processing plant at the time and, after refusing a management position on a chicken farm (the thought of injecting fluffy baby birds with goodness knows what, revulsed me even back then) and having recently married, with a new-born child, I was offered better pay, as an RAF recruit, than I was being paid in my earlier job. A few weeks after I began my work in statistics, the concept of a ‘Military Salary’ was introduced in the British Forces. It was not bad pay and relieved me from the necessity to queue up in front of some non-descript officer with a salute to receive my pay packet. When I left the service nine years later as a Corporal, with a certificate saying I had completed a Systems Analysis and Computer Programing Course, I had to take a pay cut to get into my newly chosen career in business computing. I considered myself lucky.
I did not join the service as a matter of national pride. It was a job, with – as far as I knew – a career path. It turned out that was not the case, as the British military at the time was rapidly shrinking from post-war elevated numbers, so opportunities for advancement were few and far between.
I also did not join to put my life on the line, although that was always a potential risk. So, what it boils down to is, I did it for the money, and also for the steadying effect on my life as well as perhaps a good post-service career. I left at the end of my engagement and simply fell into the then booming ‘business computer systems’ industry, along with a bunch of young sprats fresh out of University. Talk about ‘luck’. My life was all my own again and I was still young enough to begin a new career. It worked for me but I would not recommend such a route to any young person today. Stay away from the military, at all costs. The world is too unstable today. I really faced no real risks at all back then. It is an entirely different kettle of fish now.
That was a little personal, though related diversion, but getting back to what I really wanted to say…
I know of only two real armies anywhere in the world now which are manned by real soldiers. Soldiers who put their lives on the line for their country every minute of every day. That would be the Russian army and the Ukraine army. The major differences being that Russian soldiers are well trained and equipped for the tasks they are sent to carry out, while the Ukrainians are largely untrained and required to carry out dangerous orders involuntarily.
There are exceptions of course (Chinese and North Korean come to mind), but soldiers of most other nations today have not a clue about what fighting in a real war is like. That would have included me back in the ’70s of course, but I was never given to understand or think the units I was serving with were operating in some sort of superior position of advantage or strength should the need arise. Nor were we fed the kind of managerial nonsense language employed today in the modern environment through white-washed and even woke-based rhetoric.
I am glad to see that at least one, and I suspect many soldiers in leading military positions think this way, or along some of these lines, also. To that end, and to highlight the situation, I offer for readers, this just released story from a leading member of the Australian military. I suggest there must be others in other nations and in similar positions, who are also aware of this deficit. These military leaders need to speak up, and to impress on the minds of the lunatic policy makers of those nations the ludicrous positions they advocate to the endangerment of their own military forces and the consequent damage to their own national economies and populations.
Deputy chief of army warns ADF has become ‘detached’ from violent nature of war – ABC News Online – Feb 27, 2026
I am fully aware that my interpretation, of what was said there, may not directly agree with the intentions of the Deputy Chief of Army, nor the various veteran commenters who agree with him, based, I’m sure, on once held national pride, which I acknowledge. But that is not the point. The main point being what I say next…
I point out this situation, not to awaken people in general or appropriately positioned persons of influence, to present dangers (they should already be aware), to make for conditions to be somehow mitigated by raising or elevating military readiness and strength, but in particular to raise in profile the absolute futility of war and conflict at any level. The only dangers to world peace lay not in those who are currently prepared to conduct successful warfare, and who have singularly and out of necessity prepared themselves for such eventualities, but in those who in the past held the reins of power, misused them and who then, by good fortune, fell asleep dreaming of a continuation of the successful exploitation of their accumulated power while failing to notice that the world has passed them by. A repeat of those opportunities or of the regaining of that lost power will never be allowed to recur – no matter how hard they wish, cross fingers, or scheme.
The best they can do is to come to a condition of peace with the world and to seek more friendly relations with those they oppressed in times past. A rebuilding of their military power, if such is even an option for them, will serve them no good at all in a future where cooperation and goodwill can offer better returns for effort.
Not Something Else 
Leave a comment