When you sign up for the military, you voluntarily agree to the imposition of military discipline. It goes with the territory, so bunking off is a court martial offence – regardless of the reasons.
British soldiers who go AWOL in order to fight the Russians in Ukraine will be court martialled when they return, Boris Johnson warned today.
And your next statement of the blindingly obvious is going to be what? The sky is blue?
True, but from personal experience more than the occasional young squaddie has needed reminding about exactly what ‘the obvious’ is…
I remember my days as a Naval reservist. Our PO said that we were way more intelligent and educated than the average matelot who could barely tie his shoelaces without orders. So, you probably have a point there.
IF they come back. Neither side is PLAYING at soldiers.
“IF they come back”
It’s been reported that potential recruits are finding they have to sign
up for the duration of hostilities (however long that may be), and will also have their passports taken away…
This is something I’ve been praying wouldn’t happen. It only takes one of these numpties to be killed or, worse still, captured and Putin will have been handed a massive publicity coup. It could drag the UK into a bigger war and, by extension, NATO. I served over two decades in the Royal Artillery, and I’ve known of several young squaddies go AWOL over the years, but that was because they simply couldn’t hack it and didn’t want to buy themselves out. A courts martial seemed the more convenient way of getting out. In my opinion, those deserters (for that’s what they are, are a disgrace to the uniform. They deserve everything they get, IF they return home).