High life
Call to arms
Taki
Iremember it as if it were yesterday. Hundreds of Princeton University students demonstrating behind a giant sign that read: 'Nothing is worth dying for.' It was the day after President Reagan had de- creed that all eligible young men should register for the draft. This was about five or six years ago.
Cut to a beautiful alpine valley sur- rounded by snowy mountains on a spring morning last week. The only sound is the laughter of the skiers and of gunfire. Bearded, middle-aged men wearing corn- bat uniforms and helmets and loaded down with automatic weapons and 40-pound sacks are moving slowly up the paths on both sides of the valley. The railway station is full of reserve troops on their way to refresher courses in civil defence. It is obvious, even to mindless, publicity- craving jet-setters, that this is Switzerland, and that gunfire and real war games are not unusual. Even in Gstaad.
Driving up the Saanen valley towards Schoenried last week Bill Buckley pointed out that what would be unusual would be to encounter an anti-military demonstra- tion. 'The Swiss have enjoyed 450 years of peace because they know there are some things worth dying for,' is the way I believe my friend Bill put it.
It is a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, in which Switzerland has never ceased to maintain a militia-type army for her defence. Military service, in fact, is a way of life over there, with every physically capable male citizen keeping his gun, ammo and bayonet at home. The crime rate is one of the lowest in the world, if not the lowest.
Now cut back to a few choice locations in the US and right here in Britain. We see ugly women blocking access to American air bases, hirsute professors picketing en- listment centres, drunken plagiarist sena- tors denouncing military spending. No wonder the great Solzhenitsyn said there is absolutely no likelihood of nuclear war, for we are ready to throw in the towel at the sight of the first Soviet tank.
I thought of all these weighty subjects while whizzing down beautiful powder on my last day in God's country last week. Perhaps there is something perverse about skiing for pleasure while thousands of men are on military manoeuvres, but the sol- diers I ran into did not seem to mind. They laughed and shouted whenever somebody took a fall, and went about their business. Which was, I assume, stockpiling the mountains in case of an emergency. Swiss ministry of defence officials estimate that in the event of total blockade present stocks, including local food production, would permit both military and civilians to survive for up to . . . five, yes, five years. Special roads have been built for use as landing strips, while every bridge and tunnel can be mined and destroyed in a matter of minutes.
All this, needless to say, makes one feel not only safe, but confident of the future. Although there are those who complain non-stop about how dull the Swiss are, I ain't among them. What's so dull about people who want to remain free and their own masters? What is so interesting about a species such as the draft-age American generation that states unequivocally that nothing is worth dying for? In a recent poll of the United States the baby-boomers were asked under what circumstances they would be willing to serve in the armed forces and go to war, and 40 per cent of them answered 'under no circumstances'. To add insult to injury, those very same people chose Robert Kennedy as their all-time hero along with Martin Luther King. It is enough to make any red-blooded man move to Switzerland, something I hope to do very soon. Just as soon as I make enough root of all envy to be able to afford it. One thing is for sure, however. If any of you out there are counting on Americans to help us in case of war, you better start waiting for Godot instead. Better yet, the Swiss army.
Previous page
