While there are still survivors extant from National Service, that extraction from one's life of two years in the service of the State should not be discounted. Whether it was enjoyed by a few or loathed by the many, it happened and when I hear of pampered b----y students moaning because "freshers week" was ruined for them becaused of Covid, I get rather uptight. An academic on TV the other night was saying that week introduced them and eased them into the traumatic and academic student life and the government had ruined it for them. "Ah bless" I thought, they ought to have enjoyed the company of a sadistic Sergeant and a couple of his Corporal co conspirators to really find out how their little lives could be ruined. I have to admit though at the end of our training our Sergeant and two Corporals turned out to be the nicest blokes on two legs.