What are the Benefits and negativity's of Conscription?

Question

Conscription is basically Forced entry into the military upon the reaching of a certain age, for a a set length of time.
My questions refers to say....a 6 month Conscription period, is it good or bad, why? in detail please.

Answer 1

I agree with you that everybody should have a stint in the military. I think that people would appreciate the US more if they traveled to places that did not have the conveniences of hot running water, TV, air conditioning, fresh water right from a tap, etc. However, six months barely gets you trained for anything. Depending on the service, basic training ranges from 9 weeks to 13 weeks, then advanced training can range from 2 months to 6 months depending on your specialty. I don't think the services would be willing to be spend that much time and money on a person who is only to be in for 6 months. Would you want to have less training to go into a combat zone or slip-shod training just to meet the 6-month deadline? I can see you shaking your head no. My suggestion: you would be in for a minimum of 2 years and up to 4 depending on your specialty, the more involved and time consuming the specialty, the more time. Then be in the reserves for another 2 years. This seems to work for the Israelis and it would apply to both genders, not just the males. Ya know, women's lib and all. {smile}

I would also bring back the stricter basic training instead of this PC stuff that is going on. BCT is to help you survive later on in your career, it should be tough and make you appreciate the freedom we have here and the cost at which it has been bought. There would be no opting out, you screw up during basic and you lose your option for the speciality you signed up for. For those with health problems, there is always admin positions where they do not have to worry about combat situations.

The plus side is during that time in the military, you can take college level courses (many online, I had several military personnel in courses I took), some of your military experience can be used in place of college courses, and you can get a college degree while serving. So if you are in for 4 years, it is not as if you are just putting your entire scholastic life on hold and have to start from the very bottom when you leave. Another plus side to the military, you will leave a more mature and self-confident person with valuable life experience and if you chose the right speciality, with a civilian career ready to go and able to earn you money. Not such a bad deal.

Another plus is that you would be earning a pay check, have your housing taken care of, free medical and dental and on discharge would be consider a veteran and entitled to some medical benefits. Maybe not free unless you were discharged above a certain percentage disabled secondary to being in the military but cheaper than civilian health care. Unless you retire or are discharged with a medical disablity (I think 50% and above) from the Military, you do not get any monetary returns. Retirees get a pension, tricare (for you and your immediate family), base passes, and a couple of other things. Disability will get you VA pay and free medical (for you only,not your family), and medications but that is all. So there are some other advantages too for you as the conscriptee. In addition, some states have special passes for disabled vets as does the National Park service.

Answer 2

Well in, my opinion, the benefits would include:
1) having a large standing army. Conscription would bring in a number of young men capable of service
2) In your example, a six month conscription is realtively short so there would be less opposition to conscription

negatives:
1) The armed forces prides itself on being an all volunteer force. In an conscription, there would probably be some people who don't really want to be there and some would argue that it reduces the army's effectiveness.
2) Basic training alone is usually around 10 weeks (varies among the branches) and more advanced training takes even more time. It's not logical to spend so much money training soldiers who are only serving six month terms. That's why there's a commitment period for people who sign up for service today.

Answer 3

Conscription in the United States, never was, has been, or ever will be Universal, meaning everyone has to serve, your definition is unrealistic, 1. it will never happen in our nation, 2. beyond that a six month conscription would be basically useless, what would be the point of doing all of the training, all of the work, and spending all of that money, for half a years service, a two year conscription would be the minimun, benifts of such a service would be more available manpower,.

Answer 4

One of the "Benefits" is that there will be many more veterans. so there will be many more people getting checks from the government and fulfilling the socialist Ideal of a peoples military.

The Con is that most of the people in Conscript military don't want to be there. The retention rates will be low so we will end up paying more money to train more people to learn there jobs.

A 6 month enlistment, why waste the uniform, by the time they train you to do your job you would already be getting out. A conscript army with 6 month Privates will just need more professional soldiers to babysit those who have been forced to be there.

A professional military is the way to go.