Should Mandatory military service be enforced?

Question

What do you think? Why? Why not?

Answer 1

Tough question with no easy answer.

Yes, because the military does teach those that need to grow up, how to do it in a hurry. I know several people that would benefit from it..... Mandatory service of one or two years is very common around the world, so we shouldn't be seen as mean for considering it. It would definitely ease the strain on the carrier troops, as well as make a "surge" easier.

On the other hand, I would probably vote no, as I wouldn't want to be fighting with some dumbass that has no motivation and didn't pay attention to their training. Mandatory service makes poor quality troops. I also believe that the US was founded on the idea of freedoms, and since ours have taken a beating over the years, its time to take a stand and not give anything else up. People should not be forced into something they do not want to do. Voluntary service works out best for the military and civilian forces in my opinion.

Answer 2

I used to think so at first, but now I'm not so sure. If it was enforced then the military wouldn't have trouble meeting their quotas on the other hand the reason that our military has remained an elite fighting force in the world is because of the people that want to join.
The truth is no matter what, people are most happy if they get a chance to go and do as they desire freely then being forced upon a burden that they just simply can't handle. I mean wouldn't you be happier if you not only gotten to choose the branch of service but also the career, place of work, and how frequently you show up to work. Then someone showing up to your doorstep and hands you a gun and tells you to go forth, fight, and die.

Answer 3

No it should stay on a volunteer level people who are forced into doing something they don't want to could affect the quality of the work. Also its just not right unless were under HUGE risk of invasion and all of us dying we should not use the draft board either. I was a solider once a proud infantryman i volunteered for the job when bush started talking about the draft board for O.I.F and O.E.F I signed up to prevent such things from happening id rather go trough hell then to see my family go trough it. So yea enforcing mandatory military service may work for some smaller country's such as Israel but there's to many people in the U.S and that's a lot of government spending. If we force unwilling people to kill in wars such as vietnam we will get extremely bad results

Answer 4

I was unaware there was a "Mandatory Military Service" to be enforced. However, I say "No" to a draft so to speak - though I do feel that more people should serve our country to learn not to be whinny pu$$ies but, then again that's individual choice. One of the things that makes our military so stellar is that it is 100% voluntary and most of the people who serve do so out of Courage, Commitment, Honor and service to the country and its citizens - those who don't should never have joined. --- I would like to add that in the past, when a draft was in effect, the majority of those who answered the call to duty also served honorably. ----and, to "emilia d": wha wha wha what? You don't even make sense with your freshman comment (unless you're 12 and/or get your info from MTV and/or John Stewart - then it makes sense (?)). Pay more attention, Sweetheart!!!

Answer 5

My dad had the misfortune of being born in Germany in 1930. By 1943, at the ripe old age of 13, he started receiving military training. You didn't join the Hitler Youth of your own free will, they told you it was time to join.
From the start, they told him they were preparing kids his age for the glorious victories Germany would enjoy in the future. By June 1944, it was for the counter attack that would drive the allies into the sea.
They always said "you could go tomorrow" because this made training more real. Tomorrow came in February 1945, when he was sent to the Oder River on what is the German-Polish border. By the time they get there, they beat a hasty retreat to the south as more Russians are coming from Czechoslovakia. This is their first taste of combat, about 75 miles SE of Berlin. Being only 14, he and others don't want to fight and are told by SS troops they will be shot if they fall back. Six weeks later, he turned 15 and was caught in a large pocket of Germans in Berlin's suburbs. They were expected to fight their way out and get to Berlin. My father told me they had not eaten 2 days in a row for six weeks. They hadn't had meat since the left for the Oder 11 weeks prior. His "squad" had some 10 boys, six rifles, about 100 bullets and a single grenade.
They made it part way to Berlin, perhaps 5 miles from the city limits. They lost contact with the SS troops, but not the Russians. My father was lucky. He wasn't one of the six riflemen who decided to fight. He saw the Russians come in with a sub machine gun and two grenades. Cleared (killed everyone) in that trench in less than 2 minutes.
The Russians took him and the three others prisoner, but that wasn't necessarily a better situation.
That's what happens when you have mandatory conscription.

Answer 6

Sort of.

I think everyone should have some type of national service, but there should be a choice in it.

You could go to the Military, police, firefighter, certain medical jobs that the country is short in (example: nurses), and teaching.

Job Corps could be another option.

Peace Corps could be another.

Im sure there are a few others that could be used also.

Say a base of 3 years in any one of the 3 or more. If they are short in one over another, they could give more benifits to that service, as they are short in the Army over Job Corps, they could offer college on top of service, maybe tax exemptions as well. If you go to combat, you should get permanent tax immunity. If one is way over strenght, they could make that particular are longer, say 4 years to meet your requirement.

Failure to join one could mean no federal aid, no state aid, no Social Security and not allowed to file taxes for a tax refund.

This keeps the Military still mainly volunteer and gives people that don't like the Military another option. Another thing you have to factor is handicaped people. They need an option to serve also. Each of the services could open desk jobs to people that are handicaped.

Also, pay would have to be very low. Today's military pay is based on a career minded person. You could have two pay schedules. One for a person just there to do thier time, and a second pay scale for someone that commits to a contract of say... 5 years to begin with.

General consription into the military alone for the US would not work out too well. We have way too many people for it to really be effective with just the military and too many people just opposed to the military (assuming your talking about the US.)

Answer 7

Mandatory military service is not needed when the country is not at war in a large scale against many enemies.

Answer 8

i wish yes, but here is the problem with it. i use to think American would be better if everyone went through some military training you know...learned a bit of weapons training or whatever, the basics...but this is the problem with it, the reason the military is so good is because people are there because they want to be, now there are many people whovol. and once they got there realized they dont want to be there...and end up being **** bags that no one wants to serve with...now if you have a bunch of college kids and made em join the Marine Corps, the quality would go way down, and the discpline would go way down cause there would be a bunch of people who would feel like it wasnt there job to be there and they dont need to try...if you have a bunch of people thinking that way it degrades the military making it worse than if you keep it the way it it.

Answer 9

NO!!!! As a leader of soldiers I prefer the ones I have now that have volunteered. The thought of having to deal with a bunch of personel that are forced in to service is a nightmare.

Answer 10

NO, it shouldn't be enforced. People should be able to join if they wish to not be forced to join. It has to be something you enjoy and want to do. I would never force my child to join the force, but how ever if they wanted to join I would surrport them 100%. I did Army Cadets when I was at school and enjoyed it very much but it was something I did while I was at school. I did not join afterwards.