Should all healthy men be conscripted into the military to serve x number of years?
Note: I’m currently conscripted into the army for a period of (2) years. I personally do not agree with this system (while I feel that for smaller countries, this system is inevitable).
Should men be forced to take up arms against their will/conscience?
Discuss and Debate: Should mandatory military service be enforced in all countries?
I don't like the idea of mandatory military service. That's how it is in my country. Well it's a small country and it's a year of service but still. In case a war broke out I would hate to sacrifice my dad or brother for the country. It's a selfish way of thinking I know that. But what good would come from enlisting people in the army that don't wanna be there. And what if they change their minds are they traitors?
I'm from Cyprus. Not really a patriot as you see (sometimes I can be 🤣) Not a popular opinion where I'm from cause if some people hear this they will go on about the fights of our ancestors who died for us to have a future. And what a beautiful future it is... Let's just hope for no more wars.
Considering there are countries like Costa Rica that don’t have a military I’m going to say no. Their resources went to healthcare and education which in my opinion is better than funding a military. Forcing people to do something they don’t want or goes against their beliefs is wrong. So to be forced or drafted into a war you may not agree with to begin with is a good way for people to turn against the military.
They don’t have a military but they do have a National Police. It’s the country’s primary law enforcement. I think they also have alliances with other countries but I don’t know which ones.
The answer is a bit problematic in the sense that the situation in ALL countries is not the same. To make such a sweeping generalization then is to provide an answer of somewhat dubious use.
That said, in terms of the Western world, the answer is generally "no." Though even in that context, not necessarily for the reasons that might be supposed.
To start, as a general rule, a conscript force is, on the whole, not as valuable or effective as a professional military. The former are not typically as well trained and led, and given the sophistication of much modern military technology, this would lead to numerically large but relatively ineffective armed forces. (For an excellent example of this, see also the performance of the British (volunteer) and Argentine (conscript) militaries in the 1982 Falkland Islands War.)
That said, a qualification must be noted. In the small to medium sized wars that have been characteristic of the post-World War II era, professional militaries have proved their value. However, were there to be - this leaving aside the question of thermonuclear weapons - another world war type conflict, then conscription would be essential.
An all professional force, even with reserves mobilized, would not likely be adequate in terms of the numbers to engage in such a conflict as that of 1914 to 1918 or 1939 to 1945. Quite simply a mass force could absorb far higher losses and continue to fight than its professional counterpart.
That said, as noted, with the advent of thermonuclear weapons, the chance of another world war being fought out at the purely conventional level is remote. Bluntly, it would be over in a radioactive ash heap before there would be time to conscript, train and deploy a non-professional force in any numbers.
As to the socio-political aspect of this question, paradoxically there is a case to be made for conscription. As indeed the world wars paradoxically demonstrated, conscription reinforced the sense of social cohesion and obligation. That men and women owe something back to the societies that nurture and educate them and that they must nurture a sense of duty and obligation.
As can be seen in the Western world at the moment, society has taken on an almost narcissistic dimension, It is about what the citizen can get out of his country and not what he owes back to it. Further, military service can provide a sense of duty and purpose that is conducive to social order.
Of course, even here, it is a balancing act. The Korean War was fought by a conscript military and the sense of societal obligation and cohesion confirmed and reinforced a disciplined social order. By contrast, the longer the Vietnam War dragged on, the more a conscript military came to be seen as a source of resentment. Thus resulting in anti-war protests and aggravating the atomization of society in that era.
Indeed, as Henry Kissinger noted in his recent book, the instant conscription ended, the protests against the Vietnam War died off. Much of the turmoil of the 1960s being born of the sense of resentment that conscription generated over time. This, no doubt, also a result of the nature of that conscription - with those seeking a college education or working in white collar professions able to get an exemption from the draft. This leaving the burden of war to be borne by the lower middle class and the sons of blue collar workers.
Suffice to say, any draft, if there is to be one, must be applied across the board. To all classes and demographic groups in society. To that, as Bismarck said, "A statesman must take care how he deals in blood." Suffice to say, with a conscript military, the use of force must be used with discretion.
That all said, from a purely military perspective, conscription is, in general, not a net positive. Rather it is something that must be resorted to in only extraordinary circumstances. Suffice to add that when it is employed, it must be done judiciously and with a sense of collective societal obligation.
I don't think mandatory military service would be necessary unless the country can't find any soldiers and there is an imminent war coming up. I don't think its a good thing to draft people who don't want to fight. But another thing is that brilliant young people should never serve in war. we need to retain talent in order to benefit society. Draft the stupid people who can't contribute anything to society than the smart people. Don't draft the covid vaccine inventors or elon musk. Draft the hood ghetto druggies high school drop outs.
No it would dilute the quality of the military. You need to be able to pass certain fitness standards to join and conscription would flood it with guys who can't even do a pull up or run 200 yards without collapsing. It's also a time of life where people should be getting training for their future careers not being tied up in pointless exercises.
You've only got to look at the high numbers of ex military that end up either unemployed, homeless or in prison to realise it doesn't give you the skills life needs.
You have a very narrow view of the military. People get in better shape at basic training, it is literally where you're trained for exercise and discipline. I agree some quality would be worse but manpower can be necessary. Also outside of combat roles most find a job very easily
If the country serves its citizens well: LIVING wages (not a minimum wage), equal and equality laws for ALL its citizens, serving the people for the future, equal treatment, no major issues on a systematic level (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc), fair taxes, etc
If this was the case, I would gladly serve my country and give my life. Now do I believe it should be mandatory, only if, again, said amazing country serves its citizens well and the country is at war or something major like that. I also wouldn’t mind paying major taxes if said amazing country was amazing and not crappy
Does said country exist? Hell no so to answer your answer, hell no
Oh this is about men. My apologies. No I do not believe this at all should be gendered based. I understand women are basically at a lost here but in a perfect world women are just as strong as men but that would never happen so truthful I have no idea since I don’t believe anyone should be forced to serve their country
I think if it’ll be mandatory for both men and women to serve and if one’s country is again, amazing, then yes I agree with the question asked here otherwise no I don’t agree
Conscription is based on the need of the nation. America for instance has a 2 million strong volunteer force with maybe 10 million former service men an women fit to serve again. I can see ever a scenario where we need to mass Conscript untrained 18-22 year llds considering most military roles are now support roles rather than front line infantry and technology is doing more and more of those roles. As for healthy men in America we have few enough of those what with obesity and diabetes, we are basically podioning our children with huge quantities of fast food and buckets of coca cola
It's a tough one. But in some ways over the years I have shifted more yes then no. People and politicians seem to be really quick to act as if the US should be the worlds police or play Superman. But they do so knowing they won't be fighting unless things get bad enough we have to have a draft. So they push for it know they will be in their safe in their bed sleeping the same day they are pushing for it. Having mandatory military service would quickly stop that bs.
So maybe it needs be a thing and our political leaders and our military leaders need to be forced to lead from the field as well. That way they can't use their position as a easy way to bypass fighting in the conflicts they seem really damn quick to advocate for. Because at this point if you are not 100% ready to visit your nearest recruiting office and sign up, you need to shut up about how we should fight for or defend Taiwan and Ukraine.
Lets look at the bad first, you should want people to willingly go into the military. It would make a lot if people loose respect in their military cause it's basically your government/country forcing you to fight their wars for them. So while you're dodging bullets on the field, some rich a-hole and his sons are hiding some where in a top shelf bunker. The rich people kids get to live while poor people's kid get to die, it's messed up.
Now you could look at it the other way, the military could help build courage, and get you ready should something happen. People say you could learn self defense and combat on your own, but the truth is a lot people won't or don't.
No. First of all it should be up to the citizens of each country to decide their military policies so I have no opinion about the conscription policy in any country but my own.
In my own country, I think that a draft should only be used if there are insufficient volunteers of the quality needed to keep America's military the most powerful in the world.
As to the question of "should men be forced to take up arms against their will/conscience?"
For me the answer is yes provided there are no other options to meet the goals for the US military that I stated above. You have certain rights as a citizen of the United States. With those rights comes certain responsibilities. You have a duty to perform those responsibilities even if it is a hardship. When you need your country it is there for you. When your country needs you you have an obligation to be there for it. Freedom isn't free. It comes at a very high cost.
Depends on where you're at. If you are a small population country with limited resources, absolutely. In the event of an invasion (aka Ukraine) it pays to have a stable structure and a basic amount of training for the majority of your population. I would go so far as to say it should be forced conscription for all people outside of a few exceptions (medical condition, persuing higher education, important social/economic position, etc.)
If you are large country with vast resources, no. As it will degrade the quality of your forces and logistics.
No, it should not be mandatory. But it should be incentivized. Like you get tax breaks, free money, college tuition, etc. But I wouldn't mind one year of mandatory service, if it meant they took care of you (health wise) while you were there and it wasn't just torture and suffering.
No. Obligatory conscription doesn't make any sense since soldiers need long and advanced training for using and maintaining most weapon platforms. Conscription soldiers are remains of times when soldiers purpose was to catch bullets while standing in a row and to load their Muskets fast as possible
You are not really smart. We are in a time where we can pretty much make all the war machines as easy to use as we want. Modern battle tanks can be controlled by a touchpad. The only significant issue would be the planes. Every soldier still needs a few months of training and we will go into a time of mass serving again. War times are much more common than times of peace.
Women can serve too and if they don't want they need to learn to be nurses.
no, not military service but service to the country and community... paid, but discipline is instilled, skills, character, training, etc.. Not everyone is cut out for military, and we don't need massive militaries threatening each other. But we do need people whom love their countries and have character and skills and values and discipline.
I'm too young to know for sure, but my dad has said many times the US should have never stopped the draft where almost every 18 yr old male spent two years in the military. One reason is he says is that it kept these kids off the streets and gangs were a very little problem, plus the time in the military truly straightened out many guys and made good men out of them.
Or course not. We have no say in where we are born. Whether or not we want and feel that society is worth possibly dying for should be a choice, not something to have forced on anyone. The same goes for any individual crisis that occurs.
I am not opposed to everyone getting the basic training though. Enabling the choice to actively partake seems good. Again on an opt-in basis.
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Anonymous
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+1 y
I have always hated this notion that you must be forced into working for the military and then treated as some sort of criminal because you don't or won't do it. Sure they say being a part of a country should mean you should want to defend it in times of crisis, but there are far more ways to show your allegiance to a country than putting a bullet into someone's brain because someone ordered you to.
Volunteer-based militaries are better because everyone there (presumably) wants to be serving, which means that you theoretically get a more professional and disciplined institution.
Mandatory military service doesn’t yield the same quality of soldier.
I would argue that some form of national service should be mandatory. Doesn’t have to be military, it could be a national corps of citizens that do anything - fire companies, forest service, municipal service- whatever but I think a year or two serving the community in some fashion would be very beneficial to society.
Nah, I think if you can’t justify the war to your people so they sign themselves up then it’s probably not a war worth fighting. Plus paid professional soldiers who volunteered for service consistently outperform conscripted soldiers.
There are times when I think maybe 8 weeks of basic training and a year of military discipline would help alleviate the rampant self-entitlement in the US.
That said, there is zero-chance that the US will reintroduce conscription.
No why should everybody have to do it. I did mandatory military service but I like the system in my country you don't have to go to the military you can do a different service or pay more taxes if you really don't wanna go.
Absolutely not. It should be voluntary. If you wanna join, go. If not, don't go. If the army can't find enough soldiers, offer benefits or something similar to employers who can't attract employees.
Overall it’s a good thing. It doesn’t mean every young man needs to be on the front lines though. There are plenty of military personnel who are not in direct combat positions.
Well like US it a all volunteer army, I see in Russia they drafting right now, Israel all boys and girls'have to go in, it what countries want and how they want to be able to protect their people. Like in Ukraine spilla over in Poland you see many armies under NATO
It should. It gives people the necessary discipline. Women should if they don't want to be on the front line do the medical side for the soldiers that got injured in the war and need help.
Yes. If you refuse, they’ll throw you in prison. And after you’re released from prison, you still have to serve your two years. Those who claim they cannot bear arms as it goes against their religion or morals are imprisoned for 3 years as prisoners of conscience.
And if someone doesn’t serve their military service, they’ll not be allowed to study in any local University (both private and public). If someone goes overseas to study when he has been called up for national service, he can never come back to Singapore - the moment he arrives here, he’ll be jailed and then after release, he’ll still have to serve his nation.
Don’t enough people for most countries want to serve in the military? Drafting ain’t necessary then. There are ridiculous rules in the military: haircut, shave, not this or that, etc. Ain’t the freedom of choice in the human rights?
They should not. involuntary fighting forces are not very effective, and It goes against the idea of body autonomy if you don't have a choice not to serve.
Facts. I personally hate being in the military. Most of my friends who are also conscripted also feel this way. This leads to low morale and lack of motivation.
I’m not partaking in pointless war efforts. Every side has its hidden agenda. Defending a land is one thing. But when ideologies mixed with political gains is the pursuit of colonialism, no thanks.
I think it would have a more positive long term effect on the country in general however I personally wouldn't have wanted to be drafted so my view is kind of hypocritical.
No, unless all of our main forces and reserves have been close to depleted then we need a draft, but my answer is a strong NO, people should have the choice of wanting to serve or not.
Professionally, I care for veterans that have PTSD and brain injuries as a result of war. You would not suggest such a disgusting thing if you actually knew what war really does to people.
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