Your country needs you, Gen Z

00:00 04:47

Angus Colwell has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Gen Z doesn’t look like it wants to fight for Britain, but last week, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, said we might have to. He suggested that people my age should be prepared to join a ‘civilian army’ in case we go to war with Russia. But could we handle being cut off from our phones and friends? Do we have the fellow-feeling necessary to defend our country? What if we won’t submit to authority?

There are any number of reasons why my generation might reasonably not want to enlist. Accommodation will be uncomfortable and the food will be grim, according to army discussion forums. The application process will take 18 months, and at the end it’s just a 50 to 60 per cent acceptance rate. Then if you do serve, the future of war looks bleak. One in three soldiers fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war has died or been injured. An academic who is also a reservist tells me: ‘AI and drones mean every-thing can be seen all at once, so the next conflict could be medieval in nature: hand-to-hand trench warfare in urban environments.’ Your fate is also in the hands of politicians, who in the past two decades have given us soul-destroying and often counterproductive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

We may have just the skills the army needs. We’ve spent a decade training via first-person shooter games

The main objection to war among Gen Z, however, is simple: ‘I love not dying,’ says Harry, a university student. Another Gen Z-er, adds: ‘Yes, I’d be called a coward if I didn’t fight, but what use is it being a hero if you’re dead?’

Giving your life for your country is no longer a given.