What Happens, When It Happens? READY OR NOT! (PART 3)

(WWI Poster, applicable for all generations)

It isn’t easy to approach some topics, especially when ones emotions are involved, however no matter how much someone cares for their fellow mates reality has to be a put into first place when approaching this type of topic.

How does one compare military forces?
By the number of planes, ships, tanks, soldiers etc etc etc.

Yes. That is one way. No doubt about it. Simple, all numbers and number crunching.

HOWEVER!

For those of us here who have read the first of the posts in this series and then even more importantly the second post, here are the links:

https://steemit.com/politics/@jackmiller/what-happens-when-it-happens (FIRST POST)

https://steemit.com/politics/@jackmiller/what-happens-when-it-happens-it-almost-did-happen-part-2 (SECOND POST)

You will know that I am not addressing the “Who’s got more guns and bigger guns” in this world.
We could do that to see where the other countries stand, so that we may know what we are up against as far as equipment goes.

The topic that I am addressing here is a “WAKE UP CALL”, a “REALITY CHECK”.

So that people in Australia can start thinking logically and not always care about “What I want” but “What WE need” and “What we need to give of ourselves in order to assure it for us and our loved ones”.

Life on this planet it nothing like the life that people in Australia are living. (This applies to Nth America too).

TOO MANY PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS.

I am not suggesting that everyone should pack up their bags and go check it all out, unless someone really wants to do that.
Luckily most people in Australia cannot understand the reality of life in the vast majority of other countries on this planet. Australia is without a doubt “The Lucky Country” for good reasons.

HOWEVER, there are situations that have arisen and that shall without any doubt arise again in the future, as it is human nature to do silly things like world wars etc, situations where we Australians may have to face a reality that isn’t all that nice as the one we enjoy today. It may happen soon, it may happen in six generations time, there is no rule of thumb. Unfortunately the Mayan calendar expired a few years back and we don’t know when the next lunatics shall decide that their cult should rule this world!

So, to put some things into perspective, I have chosen Switzerland to make a basic shortlist for comparison on the relevant topic.

Why Switzerland?

Well, the logic is straight forwards:

1- Switzerland is surrounded by alps. Australia is surrounded by seas. Both are hard to approach let alone invade and sustain an invasion.
2 - Both countries are peaceful by nature.
3 - Both countries have professional armies and reservists.
4 - Both countries are RICH. Our country is covered in riches, The Swiss have almost as much gold as us! (doesn’t matter who’s it is, it is there)
5 – Switzerland and Australia have ties with NATO.

So without going into all the details, the above list is maybe enough to give a basic idea as to why Switzerland is a comparable country for the topic at hand.

Rather than go into all the details about both national defence forces, here are the links:

Swiss Armed Forces

“Switzerland, like many countries, requires military service from most men. Women may serve if they wish. Foreigners are exempt.”

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/military-service/29288612
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces

Note: The term “conscription” is used in the above links, however one must understand the difference between “war time” conscripts and those who are called up for “Compulsory Military Service” so as to be educated and trained in self defence and general military know how in regular peace time. For those that wish to be ignorant, I’ll spell it out for you: There is a big difference between being given a weapon and basic training and then shipped off to a war zone vs being trained professionally in peace time, and then going home.

To look up The Australian Defence Force:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Defence_Force
http://www.defence.gov.au/

Note: The reason for giving a short intro to The Swiss Armed Forces is
a) out of respect for the friendly nation that I am talking about, and
b) because this post is first and foremost aimed at Australians.
It is a safe presumption that most of us Aussies in general do not know much about the Swiss way of life and why Switzerland is considered to be one of the safest countries on this earth. (if not THE safest).

COMPARISON SHORT LIST:

SWITZERLAND: Population 8.5 million
AUSTRALIA: Population 24.7 million

SWITZERLAND: Population density is 214 people per Km2 (554 people per mi2).
AUSTRALIA: Population density is 3 people per Km2 (8 people per mi2)

SWITZERLAND: Over 50 qualified to defend per Km2
AUSTRALIA: Less than 1 qualified to defend per 100 Km2

SWITZERLAND: The total land area is 39,507 Km2 (15,254 sq. miles)
AUSTRALIA: The total land area is 7,596,666 Km2 (2,933,088 sq. miles)

SWITZERLAND: Military age; 19 years of age for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service.
AUSTRALIA: Military age; 16.5 years for selection process, 17 years to serve, 18 years to deploy on operations

SWITZERLAND: Compulsory military service; 19–34 years of age obligatorily
36 for subaltern officers, 52 for staff officers and higher
AUSTRALIA: N/A

SWITZERLAND: Available for military service; 1,852,580 males (of which over 1.5 million are trained and have the knowhow to defend their nation), + age 16–49, 1,807,667 females, age 16–49.
AUSTRALIA: Available for military service; 4,999,988 males, age 16–49, + 4,870,043 females, age 16–49. (of which less than 0.01% have any military training or knowhow).

SWITZERLAND: Has over 120,000 full time military personnel + over 80,000 reservists
AUSTRALIA: Has less than 60,000 full time military personnel + less than 20,000 reservists.

Note: Switzerland has no seas or oceans or navy as such, Australia does, so this must be taken into consideration also when considering the above information, as square nautical miles have not been taken into consideration in any of the above figures for Australia.

So, rather than go ahead and start putting forwards my views and opinions on anything here, I leave this post as is.
The short list of facts actually tells us a lot more than what most people in Australia are willing to admit to themselves.

Having traveled the world, worked with many different people and learning of a modern day Camelot idea that was literally shot down, twice.... I shall put a video up here. No it isn’t any Australian ranting and raving about anything.

It is a video of one of the worlds best known and RESPECTED speeches (a part of it):

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy