Re: Morse Code Day (27 April)

On 2024-04-28 15:18:01 +0000, Christian Weisgerber said:

On 2024-04-28, Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> wrote:
 

Something that we don’t (didn’t) have in English but that, e.g. German did was
a widely-known mnemonic for the codes. The deleted entry on the German
Wikipedia for it is here:
https://de-academic.com/dic.nsf/dewiki/976551/

 I don't think I've ever seen this before.
If it was deleted from Wikipedia, that fact should give you pause.
 

Each syllable with an <O> was a dash, each syllable without was a dot. I
presume anyone who went to the Bund in .de in the 80s and 90s can remember
their Morse code as a result;

 Morse code was not part of basic training, nor was it part of the
additional introductory radio operator course I did.  The NATO/ICAO
spelling alphabet was.
 I don't want to get too political, but it is important to realize
that compulsory military service does not produce trained soldiers.
In fact, we were explicitly told that the military would not waste
resources on training us beyond the absolute minimum, given that
we would be gone again after a year.

David Lodge had a book in 1962 called Ginger You're Barmy, based on his experience doing military service in the 1950s. It's been many years since I read it (more than 40), but my recollection is that he agreed exactly with what you are saying, that compulsory military service is a complete waste of time for all concerned. Fortunately it was ended about year before I would have had to do it.
As an anecdote, when my daughter acquired French nationality she had to do one day's national service. That consisted of going to an army base for lectures on civics, and doing a very simple test. For this last she was amazed that some of the others didn't know the most basic things: there were a couple of girls behind her who were whispering to one another as neither had the least idea why the 14th July is a holiday and that it's called Bastille Day.

 I hear being able to use Morse code has traditionally been the most
difficult part of getting an amateur radio license, for anybody
inclined to do so.

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly in England until 1987.