The military occupies a unique position compared to other public services.

Defence and foreign policy often go together, but there are important domestic and economic roles that the military plays too – including those you might not expect.

As for what makes the military different from other parts of the public sector:

• The obvious one: they’re trained to kill on the state’s behalf. While some police officers are trained to use lethal force too, it’s not the reason why police exist.
• The unique rank structure and chain of command. Again, this exists in other uniformed services (such as the Coastguard, the police, the fire service, etc.) but not to the same extent.
• Discipline is handled differently in the military than in other uniformed services.
• Militaries are often governed by their own mix of laws/courts, and international treaties.
• Militaries often have a unique culture. This includes language/terminology, regimental traditions, ceremonies and rivalries.
• The military provides an important training and education environment. In most technical and leadership roles, skills gained through military service are transferable to civilian life. The military (in the UK at least) remains one of the few major employers that take on recruits with few/no qualifications and/or a criminal record.

Wales is also pretty unique in having separate pacifist and militarist traditions.

The pacifist tradition mainly originates from (predominantly Welsh-speaking) nonconformist chapels that were influential during the 19^th Century, as well as the peace movement that grew around the First World War (such as the Women’s Peace Petition). This pacifism still exists to a certain extent through organised campaigns against militarisation in Wales.

Similarly – and at the other end of the spectrum – some of the most celebrated people in Welsh history are soldiers or medieval warriors.

Wales has a high proportion of residents who have served in the British military – up to 4.5% of the adult population (around 115,000 people). This is higher than the UK overall (3.8% of the adult population)¹.

So, in principle, there would probably be similar numbers of people who would either support Wales not having a military at all, would reject independence because they have emotional ties to Britain through the UK Armed Forces, or would support an independent Wales having a strong military (possibly even conscription).

The pros and cons as to whether an independent Wales should have a military at all – or introduce a form of conscription/National Service – will be looked at separately.