“Defence industry analyst & consultant specialising in Land Warfare. Former British Army infantry officer. UK advisor to KNDS.”:

      • Addfwyn@lemmygrad.ml
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        23 days ago

        It’s okay, the conscripted children will help lower that average.
        Which is probably not far off at this point.

        • Biden is demanding results before election time, wouldn’t be surprised if they brought the conscription age down to 18. I imagine by the time the US allows them to surrender, Ukraine is going to look more devastated than Paraguay after the War of the Triple Alliance.

        • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.mlOP
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          23 days ago

          It’s only a matter of time. The West has been putting more and more pressure on Kiev to drastically lower the conscription age.

    • Addfwyn@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      For a career soldier/officer, not particularly but for a frontline grunt? Very much so.
      I am going to go out on a limb and guess that most of those in the 40+ age bracket are conscripts, not career soldiers. Honestly I would probably put even money on the younger soldiers being the same at this point.

    • For fighting in war? Ancient. I’m around that age and I work out 6 days a week and even then sometimes I feel my body being heavy when I’m forced to do something uncomfortable. I can’t imagine eating 3 meals a day from a can, sleeping in a sleeping bag with a rifle on my chest and shitting in a bucket…

      For what, exactly?

      • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.mlOP
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        23 days ago

        sleeping in a sleeping bag

        More like trying to sleep in a puddle of cold, muddy water with a few dead bodies next to you in a trench that’s being shelled for days and drones constantly buzzing overhead.

        This after you were grabbed off the streets by a bunch of thugs with swastika tatoos, shoved in a van, given a rifle and three days’ “training” that consisted of you taking a few potshots at a target, were told you were going to be deployed to some safe backline location but really they just shipped you to the front, and when you get there you have no idea where you even are and your commanding officer is nowhere to be seen.

        War is hell.