Hello, welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm James Reynolds and in BBC OS conversations we bring people together

around the world to share their experiences and this time conversations on national service.

The war in Ukraine has contributed to a heightened awareness of security in parts of Europe.

The reintroduction of different forms of

national service has become a debate once again. So we hear from young men about

their experiences whilst others share why they objected to serving and they

describe the consequences. You know when you say oh I didn't serve it opened up not

the only conversation but opens up a place of argument a place of argument, a place of discourse, and a place of judgment.

It's been more than 60 years since National Service was abolished here in the UK.

Between 1949 and 1960, all physically fit males

between the ages of 17 and 21

had to serve in one of the armed forces for an 18 month period.

But now the requirement has been back in the headlines, at least as part of the current

general election campaign.

The ruling Conservative Party has promised

to bring back a system of national service if elected. And lucky at Italy too, the deputy

Prime Minister Mateo Salvini has introduced a bill for mandatory military service.

And in Germany, the Defence Minister has presented a proposal for selective military service

focused on volunteers in order to boost Germany's depleted armed forces.

But in other countries, national or military service has never gone away.

So for our first conversation, we wanted to hear from two people who've recently completed their mandatory time in the military.

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