Ask Lemmy

Colombian here. Mandatory military service is morally indistinguishable from slavery. I only was spared from it because I used a loophole that lets you skip it if you're already in college.

Loved it.

Suppose you live in a disputed region claimed by three different warlords. Would you have to serve triple the time, or would you be forced to pick a side?

I believe that mandatory military service is absurd. Nobody chose to be born in any nation or under the jurisdiction of any government. No one else should be be obligated to support or fight for the ideology or actions or even the right to exist of a government they have effectively been assigned to by complete chance. It completely ignores the right of individuals to have their own systems of belief about what is morally correct.

For example, I am largely in agreement with Buddhist philosophy and only support violence under strict circumstances. I was born and currently live in the United States, and I would gladly go to prison or be executed over directly or indirectly being responsible for the suffering of others at the request of my government. Everything my country stands for is antithetical to my very strongly held beliefs about what is right, and I would proudly label myself a traitor. I believe that if you can't find enough volunteers to fight for a cause, then maybe that cause isn't actually worth shedding blood over.

Hmmm. I could support mandatory service, but not necessarily military service. An army of conscripts isn't a very good army; just look at Russia. OTOH, I think that, in general, a population that has some basic level of training so that they can be called up and quickly activated if the professional military needs more people isn't a terrible idea. On the other other hand, I think that people being conscripted to do public works and service is a pretty solid idea.

That said, I'd be much, much more supportive of a system where no one had citizenship--and I mean no one--without doing four years of service for their country first, in whatever capacity they were needed and capable of serving, whether that's some form of military service, or working in soup kitchens. E.g., unless you are willing to work for the country, you should not be able to vote -or- be elected, nor should you have absolute, unfettered free speech. IMO people need to be invested in some way in their country. Look at immigrants that have been naturalized; they're often far more serious about their citizenship and their responsibilities as citizens than people that were born and raised here. IMO we should aspire to have all citizens be as committed as those that have been naturalized.

EDIT - to be clear, I support a population being actively engaged in the politics of their locality, state, and country. Too many people are disengaged from news and politics, and that's a terrible thing.

As far as firearms training, my issue is that it's often used as a way to deny rights. E.g., make training mandatory to get a permit, but make training expensive, inconvenient to get to, at times that conflict with work schedules, etc., in order to discourage people from exercising their right. If training was offered on-demand, was free, and you didn't need to pass a test in order to be able to use your civil right, then sure. Like, the hunters' safety classes? You have to take the class, but you don't have to pass a test in order to be permitted to get a hunting license. (Or, you don't in my state. I've taken the class; most of it is pretty basic if you are already familiar with guns.) Any system that uses testing to determine if you can exercise a civil right will inevitably end up functioning like literacy tests did for voting rights.

It's against human rights, and severely fucked-up

I'd sooner go to prison

As an Australian I have no interest in "defending" a country that's rampant with shit stain politcans, their oligarchs, along with their supporters and retinue.

Cumpolsory military service my sweet asshole.

Hunter safety is a gun safety class that under age kids can take to help build good habits when handling firearms. Maybe people could use those instead.

Fuck your military slave bullshit. Fuck it forever.

"Fuck off"

It's a terrible idea. Isn't the military a strong enough institution in the US as it is? What right does the government have to rob years from the lives of their youth by having them go play soldier, especially in times of peace?

It depends on how it's done.

First, there has to be a compensation. Generally speaking free college gets tied to it a lot. In the US a mandatory service isn't getting off the ground without it.

Second, there needs to be multiple avenues of service. It cannot just be military. To be honest, the military can't handle the number of conscripts. There's about half a million every year. So spreading that out into other service avenues such as a construction corps, EMTs, hospital helpers, legislative staff, libraries, etc, is required. (The specifics are obviously up for debate)

I do believe a mandatory service brings people together and strengthens a country. But it's just not possible for a large country like the US to do military only mandatory service.

Underdeveloped countries have it.