Is it time for mandatory national service?

Question

"To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United State, including women, perform a period of military service OR a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."

FORM OF NATIONAL SERVICE.
(1) as a member of an active or reverse component of the uniformed services;
(2) in a civilian capacity that, as determined by
the President, promotes the national defense, including national or community service and homeland security.

OBLIGATION FOR YOUNG PERSONS.
It is the obligation of every citizen of the United States, and every
other person residing in the United States, who is between
the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of national
service.

Aside from the Air Force Our military is stretched dangerously thin. With members of the Army and Marines working on second and third full tours in Iraq.
Something drastic needs to be done to bolster their numbers.

I have served just for the record, 4 years U.S. Army.

Answer 1

NO. I'm not going off to fight for OIL!

Answer 2

No, I do not think that compulsary military service will best serve our country. We are a republic, and as such, men, and women alike, should have the choice to serve, just as they do now. I agree that the Marines and the Army need help. However, if you want to regulate something, regulate the media that taints the average American's view on war and military service. I went to a military school and saw how it hurt the men at my college when the liberal media bashed their efforts or completely refused to acknowledge their service at all. I firmly believe that if public opinion of the military changed, then more men and women would enlist. But I can't blame people for not wanting to be a part of something that draws such ire from the mainstream media. It is, indeed, our duty to protect our country, but I believe that means more than compulsary service. I believe it means that everyone, whether they agree with war and military or not, should bond together in times like these to give those soldiers the support they deserve and to bolster public opinion.

Answer 3

Did you/Do you enjoy being at school?

National Service would simply not work due to the mindset of people. The internet provide us with knowledge that was not available to the people who fought in the last 2 world wars or the little ones in between. This in turn leads to people now being able to question the validity of the war. War's these day's are fought hundred's of miles away and whilst any loss of life is regretable it's simply due to the fact that people are fighting wars there are no need to .There is a saying "A voulenteer is better than 10 pressed men". Personally I agree with this statement, if someone who does not want to be there gets forced to be there who is the bigger threat? He is. I Assume you are American so I'll tell you this if you think your armed forces are streched then what state are the armed forces of the rest of the world?

Answer 4

As a conservative, I believe that compulsory military service is a bad idea.

Military service takes true patriotism. It takes a different kind of person to want to enlist in the military service, and potentially be put in harm's way and "take a bullet" for what he/she believes in.

You could potentially put a significant strain on the federal budget by adding several million people per year to the federal payroll. A strain that will result in significantly higher taxes. Instead of the average person paying 8-15% of their annual pay in income taxes, we would be talking 40-45% to offset the increase of the budget (yes, military members do pay federal income tax).

We could no longer truly call ourselves a free country. The military service is voluntary, meaning if you don't want to fight, don't sign up. By mandating that everyone serve in some capacity, you would strip people of their freedom to choose between right and wrong, good and bad.

The military should always remain what it is: an all-volunteer force. The only rule-change that I would be in favor of in the military is getting rid of the "conscientious objector" statuses. This harkens back to the "if you don't want to fight, don't sign up" rule. I feel that, once a person signs that contract, which, in essence, states that you could potentially die in combat operations and/or be sent to places that you really don't want to go, it's too late, you have stripped yourself of that freedom to object to military actions no matter what your feelings are.

Answer 5

I think this is not a good idea. The best part about the service now is that everyone in is someone who wants to be there. As soon as we start requiring people to be in the military we will have all these people who dont want to be there and doing a bad job of it. We have professionals doing the job now and I think we should leave it at that. If we want to get more people in the service of our country we should pay them better.

Answer 6

NO

When the troops run out, the wars run out. And if a war is so important, people will volunteer when they get angry enough or scared enough.

The answer is to get out of Iraq. Let Israel fight its own wars over there. Let oil companies hire mercenaries and do it themselves. God knows they are charging enough for gasoline and diesel.
People are fed up with being lied to and sold another Vietnam that civilians have to pay for in taxes and military have to pay for in blood.

Let me buy my own new machine guns and I wil keep the homeland I own completely secure.

Answer 7

I think the time has come for mandatory service. It will not kill anybody to serve in the military for four years. And the truth is young people owe the country this service. If you live here you ought to be willing to fight for that right!

Answer 8

Not all people are cut out for military service. Maybe the ones that are becoming security guards and those that were planning on becoming police officers.

Answer 9

Yes but it should only be required for two years and between the ages of 18 and 21...that should be plenty enough people to solve any shortage.

Answer 10

No. If there was another world war raging I'd say yes. If your country was under attack I'd say yes too. I'll bet the people who say yes would try to get out of it if they were called up - I know I'd try.

uhh... god nose - it actually WILL kill some people to serve in the military....

Answer 11

i think we should de-militarize, stop screwing around with other countries affairs, and make America a better place. We could spend the defense budget on education, homelessness, transportation, instead we spend about a billion dollars a weak in a pointless war in Vietraq.