The Evil Swiss Invade

[Airscrew]

OMG Call GW, notify the UN and NATO,  The Swiss are trying to take over the world and they're starting with Liechtenstein

ZURICH, Switzerland - What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

 
According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

"We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press.

Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_fe_st/mistaken_invasion;_ylt=ArUWth9FEPAitxiGCma5VdQuQE4F

[REP0MAN]

Originally posted by Airscrew
Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.

Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington DC, doesn't have an army.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_fe_st/mistaken_invasion;_ylt=ArUWth9FEPAitxiGCma5VdQuQE4F

Now THAT would have been a funny war.....

[Gunslinger]

The swiss have an army?

[Curval]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
The swiss have an army?

Yup, armed with fold out knives.

[Curval]

Truth be told, the Swiss have historically been a very tough bunch to beat on a battlefield.  Just ask the Vatican.

[Max]

Jeepers...I forgot all about Liechtenstein

[tedrbr]

Gunslinger     "The swiss have an army?"

All able-bodied male Swiss citizens are conscripted to the armed forces. For women the service is voluntary. Since 1996, Swiss citizens can apply for civilian service instead. Entry to the civilian service is based on moral grounds and subject to a successful application.

A significant number of young men choose to avoid military service by visiting a doctor who attests to their incapacity to do military service on medical grounds, or try to fake it during recruitment through psychological and physical tests that are taken during recruitment. This can be on either physical or mental grounds. Those who are found unable to serve the military pay an additional 2% income tax, and must in any case serve in Civil Protection (Police, Fire Department etc.), though the duration of this is much shorter. As of January 2004, the income tax was raised to 3% by the Federal Council. Also, those who have conscience issues against war (for example, people who experienced violence at a young age, or have been in a warzone) can serve in Civil Service, where they do various kinds of social services, such as reconstructing cultural sites, helping the elderly and so on and so forth. However, a citizen may only request enrollment in Civil Service if they are psychologically and physically eligible for military service, but they have to put in one and a half times more time than they would as soldiers.

Conscription occurs at the age of 18 years. At the age of 20, about half the service is done during an initial training period of 21 or 18 weeks, depending on the service branch, with the exception of the Grenadiers, an elite infantry unit with a 25-week boot camp. Initial training (following regular boot camp) for members of the AAD, Switzerland's new SAS-type Special Forces unit, which is an all-volunteer professional unit with a rigorous selection process, is 18 months. Thereafter, men remain in the military until the age of 30 (or longer, if the military service is not yet completed), performing three weeks of training every year. However, the service period of non-commissioned officers and officers is significantly longer. .........
 During military service, the employee is paid a compensation of 80% of his regular salary by the state. Most employers, however, continue to pay the full salary during military service. In this case, the compensation is paid to the employer. Employers cannot fire a person in service by law.

Famously, members of the armed forces keep their rifles and uniforms in their homes for immediate mobilization, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition in a sealed tin, to be used for self defense while traveling to the mobilization points. Additional ammunition is kept at military bases where the militia are supposed to report. Swiss military doctrines are arranged in ways that make this organization very effective and rapid. Switzerland claims to be able to mobilize the entire population for warfare within 12 hours. In contrast, it can take several weeks to several months for a militarily-active country such as the United States to mobilize its military force.

Military manpower
Military age    18-32 years of age obligatorily  36 for subaltern officers, 52 for staff officers and higher
Availability    males age 15-49: 1,855,808 (2000 est.)
Fit for military service    males age 15-49: 1,579,921 (2000 est.)
Reaching military age annually    males: 42,169 (2000 est.)
Military expenditures  Dollar figure    $3.1 billion (FY98)  Percent of GDP 1.2% (FY98)

On May 18, 2003, Swiss voters approved the military reform project "Army XXI" to drastically reduce the size of the Swiss Army. Starting in January 2004, the 524,000-strong militia was pared down to 220,000 conscripts, including 80,000 reservists. The defense budget of SFr 4.3 billion ($3.1 billion) was trimmed by SFr 300 million and some 2,000 jobs are expected to be shed between 2004 and 2011.

Why I would not mind seeing some form of Federal Service being mandatory in the United States.  The Swiss system is an excellent example.  Civil service as an alternative.  Paying an extra 2% or 3% in taxes for NOT serving.  Excellent!

1.5 million troops, militia, and reservists ready on 12 hours notice?

[Mace2004]

Here's the follow-on story.

VADUZ, Liechtenstein - After being embarassed that its border guard failed to notice the Swiss invasion, Liechtenstein immediately reacted by mobilizing the remaining members of its 1996 soccer team known for its success over Latvia's FC Universitate Riga (Liechtenstein by 1–1 and 4–2) as a show of fource and declared war on France.  French President Jacques Chirac, upon hearing that the world's sixth-smallest independant nation had declared war upon the French Republic, reacted by exclaiming "sacre bleu!.....Who?"  

After receiving a detailed briefing from his Defense Minister during which President Chirac learned of the overwhelming Liechtensteinse power arrayed against him and that German was Liechtenstein's official language, declared "c'est la vie" and surrendered.  While leaving the stage with Liechtenstein's Prince Alois following the formal signing of the surrender accord, former President Chirac was overheard saying "why yes, of course I like Schnitzel".  

In a related incident, a spokesman for the French Marine National attributed the "fog of war" and "miscommunications" as reasons the Navy failed to receive timely notification of the surrender and that was why they had immediately put to sea and scuttled their ships.  The spokesman also said, "sure we're embarassed, you'd think we'd have this down by now."

[Viking]

Yup, little Switzerland is the most heavily armed society in the western world.

[Max]

Lolz Mace...too funny!

Btw...Liechtenstein is bordered on the west by the Rhine River. How could the Swiss troops not know they were off course?

[Dinger]

Yeah, it's a weird sight to see kids put their rifles overhead on the trains around here....

[Viking]

Where would that be Dinger? You in Switzerland?

[GtoRA2]

Yep the swiss are every anti gun persons nightmare.

Every house is packing automatic weapons and no one kills each other.

[Viking]

They're every car owner’s nightmare too, but that's another story.

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by GtoRA2
Yep the swiss are every anti gun persons nightmare.

Every house is packing automatic weapons and no one kills each other.

dont let a democrat see that, it ruins their view of the new world order and makes them unhappy