mandatory military service

[Lyudmilascience]

in many other countries (not the USA) they have mandatory military service policy. my birth country they require military service and a friend of mine and I were talking about that and he thinks that the us should require military service for all men and women, he thought that it will teach people discipline and make people better workers. It really hit home for me and made me really upset, I told him how would you feel if your family member died in a war, and he said he will feel proud because he defended our freedoms. I think that sometimes well most of the time war is not really defending something its more attacking to gain power or freedom.What if your relative wanted to become a famous scientist, he would never get to do that if he dies at war. Because both my uncles died in war serving for my country and they died very young, at 19 and 20ies. I never got to know them. one died when I was the the other before I was born. They never wanted to serve in the military and everyone knows that if you serve in the military you will get drafted. I dont really like this mentality supporting the military, I dont support war. we dont have anyone attaking us. but that's really beside the point, I don't think the government should be responsible for making people hard workers, it should just make jobs available and letting people decide if they want to be disciplined. because this takes away a persons freedom and rights. It surprised me that he thinks this way, it made me wonder do many other Americans agree with this?I think we should keep the way things are right now, anyone who wants to serve in the military can but if you dont you wont have to.

 

What do you think:

should we require military services to all men from ages 18 to 25 for four years?

 

how many people across the united states of america would want to make military services mandatory?

[John Cuthber]

in many other countries (not the USA) they have mandatory military service policy. my birth country they require military service and a friend of mine and I were talking about that and he thinks that the us should require military service for all men and women, he thought that it will teach people discipline and make people better workers. It really hit home for me and made me really upset, I told him how would you feel if your family member died in a war, and he said he will feel proud because he defended our freedoms. I think that sometimes well most of the time war is not really defending something its more attacking to gain power or freedom.What if your relative wanted to become a famous scientist, he would never get to do that if he dies at war. Because both my uncles died in war serving for my country and they died very young, at 19 and 20ies. I never got to know them. one died when I was the the other before I was born. They never wanted to serve in the military and everyone knows that if you serve in the military you will get drafted. I dont really like this mentality supporting the military, I dont support war. we dont have anyone attaking us. but that's really beside the point, I don't think the government should be responsible for making people hard workers, it should just make jobs available and letting people decide if they want to be disciplined. because this takes away a persons freedom and rights. It surprised me that he thinks this way, it made me wonder do many other Americans agree with this?I think we should keep the way things are right now, anyone who wants to serve in the military can but if you dont you wont have to.

 

What do you think:

should we require military services to all men from ages 18 to 25 for four years?

 

how many people across the united states of america would want to make military services mandatory?

I'm not in the USA (and nor are 95% or so of the world's population) but

"and he said he will feel proud because he defended our freedoms"

To me, "Freedom" includes not serving the military defending a system that I might not agree with.

 

 

BTW, why just men?

Edited September 21, 2015 by John Cuthber

[fiveworlds]

should we require military services to all men from ages 18 to 25 for four years?

 

This depends on weather or not the country is at war. Military service was mandatory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressmenthere at times during war but I don't see the point during peacetime.

Edited September 21, 2015 by fiveworlds

[Endy0816]

Selective Reserve program covers the bulk of draftees in the US(legal requirement to sign up for males ages 18-25). For a period of time you are more likely to be called up if you have served or are waiting to serve(IRR), but that fact alone doesn't dictate whether you will be drafted or not.

 

Should also bear in mind you can always claim conscientious objector status.

 

I don't know. Military already does serve as something of a job training program for a score of professions. Not really useful to have anyone serving as a bullet sponge anymore.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Endy0816

[fiveworlds]

I don't know. Military already does serve as something of a job training program for a score of professions.

 

 

Absolutely most people can't afford to pay to become a pilot here so most pilots have been in the air corps. They basically didn't have a choice if that was the career path they wanted then they had to join the military. Unless they were super rich of course.

[Greg H.]

As a veteran, I can honestly say that I would much rather have someone in my foxhole that had chosen to be there than someone who was compelled to be there. You fight harder for something you believe in, and when the bullets are flying, we need people who believe in what they're doing, not people who are just trying to put in their time.

[michel123456]

Mandatory service has also other implications.

For example the first implication is a reduce of unemployment. And of course the reverse process for nations that want to cut mandatory service: cancelling mandatory service means an increase in underemployment.

I don't know about general expenses what it means for a nation, but my guess is that mandatory service is an economic load.

And I don't know about the efficacity of soldiers that have been engaged by force.

I have been through that and I assure you that after university, going to the army is exactly the same as entering a prison.

[Bill Angel]

I don't believe that the US military currently has manpower requirements that necessitate the need for conscription. I served in the Navy after graduating from college in 1970 with a degree in physics, and my talents and education were not used very effectively by the military. People like myself who desired at that time to pursue graduate studies in the sciences should have continued to have gotten student deferments.

[iNow]

I'd rather voting be mandatory / compulsory than military service.

[michel123456]

I'd rather voting be mandatory / compulsory than military service.

That was a revendication of left wing parties and has been obtained in several countries.

[Lyudmilascience]

I agree with jhon cutber. military violates our freedoms. Although i can see what michael123456 means by saying that military service helps unemployment but still if everyone had the government put them in a set job after college then there will be less unemployment too and less people will die. I would try to stay away from making anyhting mandatory if it is not nessisery.

[Function]

4 years!? Damn! In Belgium, in the past, once you turned 18, you had mandatory military service for about 1 year. Luckily enough (this is where my opinion kicks in), it has been abolished long time ago.

 

John's right, imo: there's no honour in defending a country whoce policy lots of people probably don't agree with (and no, it is not possible for all of those people to move out).

 

He raises the question, why men. Valid argument.

Another one: why the army? Why not 1 year mandatory police work? Firefighter work? Paramedic work?

 

Don't get me wrong: I wouldn't vote on any of those (though I might be a bit biased for the last one). In my opinion, making it mandatory for people to sacrafice 1 year, or, like you say, 4 years, is not defending their rights or whatever. To lots of people not wanting to have anything to do with military, those are 1-4 years of their lives lost. And they're not getting them back. Years they could've spent on studying (I'm not sure how politics are about mandatory military service when it comes to students? are they obliged too?), making themselves useful, enjoying whatever they like doing, lost.

 

When this subject reaches dinner table conversations in my family (which happens around 1 time a year), I go into a strong debate with my father.

"At least military service taught men how to be independent and care for themselves." is his only argument.

 

Don't give me that sh.. As if no one can become independent, self-reliant and well-mannered. Education on manners and lifestyle self-reliance and independency is a responsibility that lies with only 1 party: the parents.

One thing's for sure, I've seen men having had to serve when they were 18, and I've seen men who haven't. With all due respect for the former, but there's more people I look up to in the latter group.

 

I've always seen military service as a cruel life-shortening happening. Like diseases. But less personal. And less direct.

Imo, it is a strong violation of people's freedom and their personal civil rights (though I am not a specialist in the latter).

Edited July 29, 2016 by Function