:) you lost your monopoly on switzerland questions

@JoErNanO good job, you won the first answerathon

@JoErNanO I could not find inspiring questions, so you finally made it

yes seems so

but i think the question could be great if slightly reworded

You should try to reword it, could be interesting

well it sounds very stereotypical obviously

but actually, is there some kind of "military reserve", which some people are part after finishing their military service?

yes

that's the reason they have a riffle at home

in case of war, the soldiers should be able to jump right into the fights and not first go to the ammunition dump

ok

interesting

obviously, this view is kinda old fashioned and nowadays more and more soldiers to not have their weapons at home anymore

ah ok, they have it at the ammunition dump then?

yes

and is the military reserve includes a lot of people, or even all who went to military service?

all who went to military service

ok

until a specific age. don't know exactly, but probably around 35

there are also periodical refresher courses you have to attend

OK. And if I remember, there is the choice between civil or military service

today it is a choice

but only 2-3 years ago you had to provide reasons to choose civil service

oh ok

but it's still unfair since civil service is longer

why unfair? couldn't it be fun?

or you meant you expect military service to be longer for more fun?

because if you chose to do civil service you have to do that longer than military service

you're forced to do either on of these choices

so in my opinion both should last for the same amount of time

and how can military service be fun???

civil service is at least useful in most cases

haha well I agree it is not, but some may like it

but i know a lot of people who decide to do military service instead of civil service, just because they have to spend a couple of weeks of their life less in military service

yeah I agree too. I remember when I went on exchange, there were some Swiss and one was a former military, he seemed to have liked it. He was a sane person :)

ok I see

and the other had done a civil service if I remember, I think he found that useful

yes, not all people who like military service are crazy. (but most of them are...)

I haven't done either one as it is not mandatory in France but civil service sounds kind of fun, you get to do stuff not necessarily in your professional field

:)

I also did neither civil nor military service, but i still have a strong opinion :)

:) you didnt want to be bothered by that, I understand

how long are they anyway, like a year?

either 300 days in a row or 260 days splitted up in around 21 weeks and the periodic refresher courses of 3 weeks

ok

not too bad

civil service is 1.5 x 260 days = 390 days

@JoErNanO congrats!

@Vince @Dirty-flow Thanks! It now time to take @chx out of the picture! :)

Until the 1979 cohort, military service was also compulsory in France and civil service was longer as well, it's a common trick

There was no Swiss-style militia service obviously, though

lol, earned the revival badge on meta with the last answer of the February Answerathon :)

@Vince: Regarding weapons: If you complete the full duration of your service in the Swiss military, you can keep the weapon.

This fellow is from Marbella Escapes and registered today. I bet he monitors Travel on Twitter and opted to reply. His answer is not spam thank goodness. I need to examine his answer because it could be a problem if what he says is true.

@GayotFow True the answer isn't spam.

@JoErNanO Another example, when you report a theft, the police gives you a “procès-verbal”

Yup. Makes sense.

When a jury meets to officialize the results of an exam session, it produces a procès-vebal

In everyday-language PV is shorthand for fine, but there's more to it. Good to know.

@JoErNanO: In that context, yes, but it can also simply be meeting minutes

@MarkMayo Are you out of the hospital yet?

@JoErNanO Not spam, and hat's off to him! But a comment has appeared saying he didn't answer the question. I think the commenter is right.

@GayotFow: As I've mentioned - I believe that he does, on fact, give a useful answer to the question.

@GayotFow Indeed I upvoded @Jonas' comment

Whilst it might nor provide a hard-limit for the minimum age required to walk the walk, it does give insightful pointers which can be used to work out a limit case-by-case.

@Jonas I have upvoted all three respondents. That includes Mirabella :)

In the UK Sea Cadets for certain adventures they say flat out, minimum age 16

or minimum age 12

or minimum age 10

But I can't do a 3km arduous trek

I need only about 500 meters on the board-walk

Yeah but the UK is a country that loves cut-off limits and standards carved-in-stone. :)

@GayotFow Updated the question title. Feel free to rollback/burn as needed.

No, the Magna Carta was on cow hide, not stone

:D :D

The limit of my 5yo is ~5km, so it really depends on the children.

He is not very fast, though :)

The limit is mine :) the kids can do it piss easy

I got that. :)

Plus a dozen kids running around while you are taking a few minutes to rest while hiking mustn't be easy to manage.

Ah, I hadn't noticed that part before. Yeah, herding a dozen kids across a strenuous and potentially dangerous path is not what I'd do on my vacation :)

Builds their confidence and makes them more cosmopolitan :) :)

While also possibly giving you a heart attack :)

:)

@Jonas I thought you were a real courageous outdoorsy type. :P

A sportsman? Is that Caminito on your bucket list?

@JoErNanO: As long as it's just me and my family, bring it on :)

It's easier when it's other people's kids: you don't really care that much if they fall off the cliff. No?

@GayotFow It is now. :)

Well, I know that mine will listen, and do have some endurance

If not that I will have to think up something else

Did anyone notice? This OP asked a Heathrow T3 question and in 3 paragraphs he managed to elude EVERY PIECE OF USEFUL INFORMATION

@JoErNano: I have to admit, though, that I'm not quite as "courageous" as my dad and father-in-law who spontaneously decided to hike all the way down into the grand canyon after they had hiked about a third of the way. With almost no food (actually they had some more in their backpacks but forgot), and very little water.

We took a helicopter to the bottom of the GC

Then went on a boat ride with a genuine American native at the helm

@Jonas Sounds dangerous.

Why did they decide to hike?

@JoErNanO: My father-in-law used to be a mountain guide, my dad an experienced hiker. They should have known better. But they did walk back up on their own on the same day, so they got to tell the tale.

@GayotFow: Originally, they thought of going all the way down and back up on the same day, but decided it would be too strenuous. Of course, walking down, they thought "getting back up can't be that hard, let's just go all the way"

Don't you need a permit to get on the foot trail?

I'm glad nothing happened to them. You know it's often the most experienced people out there who get injured. I'm a scuba-diving assistant instructor, and I often find myself dragging "experienced" divers out of nitrogen narcosis. It ain't fun.

At least they were duly contrite afterward.

boo

@hippietrail boo to you!

@Jonas Usually they get angry and tell you that they didn't need your help since they've been doing this since they were in the placenta.

@Gilles Thanks for the edit man.

how's things outside vietnam?

Hectic.

@MarkMayo is in the hospital, @MeNoTalk is supposedly banned from the chat, although I suspect he's just taking a vow of chastity from tse.

:)

The rest of us are having fun with stereotypically accurate questions about the French.

@JoErNanO: Haha, no, they noticed that this may not have been their smartest move ever even before they got chewed out by my mother in law :)

@Jonas someone bless mother-in-laws. :D

How did he get banned?