The Impact of National Service

An attempt to assess the effects of Nat'l Service on the careers of young men in a period of relatively full employment, based on a study of a group of youths leaving Glasgow Sch's at age 14. Since Jan 1947 complete information on 771 men has been collected; 498 on Nat'l Service, the remaining 273 rejected as medically unfit. The Nat'l Servicemen were visited for 2 vrs following demobilization & their performance compared with the control group of deferred men, who had been assessed on leaving Sch as of poorer home background, poorer physique & lower scholastic ability. Similarly their preservice-age conviction records were higher. This diff must weigh in comparing the 2 groups. However, it would appear that Nat'l Service, though improving physique, had an unsettling effect. A higher proportion of those on Service drafted from skilled trades, & the proportion of those convicted was much higher amongst ex-servicemen. Some weight must be given to the fact that unsatisfactory performance in both groups must be partly due to the influence of bad childhood soc & environment conditions. The after effects of service are usually more severe among men of the poorest background. B. M. Thomas.