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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Yeah, mandatory military service does not mean "sent to war" in any country that currently practices it. If only just because these countries are most often at peace. It just means they go to boot camp, hang around collecting a military paycheck for a while, and get sent back to civilian life with some boring stories to share with their friends.
Some might observe that democratic societies were founded at least partly on the idea of professional, full-time armies and police forces that could shoulder the burden of self-defense so that individuals weren't required to carry around weapons all the time. Reverting back to that state is a serious sign of decline in any nation that is not under constant threat of warfare, such as Israel.
edited 28th Mar '16 11:31:00 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Saying mandatory service is slavery and and inevitably leads to despotism is a slippery slope argument.
Which, I agree suddenly radically changing things is a bad idea, but to say it's inherently evil in all circumstances and inevitably against goodness is factually wrong.
edited 28th Mar '16 11:38:26 AM by CassidyTheDevil
Generally speaking, military service can be good for you, but not in the way you think — if you're lucky, you'd learn a couple things about standing on your own feet; it's basically like being schooled on Life, where you get no second chances and you have to get things right (whether you're in the field or not is irrelevant, this applied to me and I was the jobinkest of jobniks). However, that's hardly guaranteed and at least part of that is attitude (that you bring with you from home or whatever).
On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.Also, consider how many recruits, enlisted or otherwise, drop out because they are unable to handle the regimen of absolute loyalty and obedience required by a professional military.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"That was me, was a side point I made that attracted indignant people. Which is fine, correcting people through argumentation is part of life, but it is rather mentally tiring trying to deal with overly emotional people even they're right.
Sorry, I guess I'm not really bringing much good to discussion.
edited 28th Mar '16 11:57:51 AM by CassidyTheDevil
Dunno, the discussion is OT, but it doesn't seem to me like it's toxic or anything. Then again I'm just a (mostly) quiet observer with some experience as a conscript.
On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.Or get kicked out because they're unable to fulfill the physical, emotional, and/or psychological demands of the job.
That's what happened to me, but I would still consider the experience to have been a very important and defining one. My time at Fort Sill, short though it was, taught me a lot of valuable lessons and to this day, I still consider my DS to have been the most important educator I've ever had. It's something I think everyone should go through, but not something I would support being mandatory.
edited 28th Mar '16 12:02:31 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Congress people have been shot before and it doesn't seem to make a difference.
| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |Specifically, a police officer was shot and the shooter is in custody.
Story is developing as we speak.
@ smokeycut:
Probably note. One — Gabrielle Giffords
— was shot in 2012.
edited 28th Mar '16 12:17:26 PM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling OnThey view themselves as part of the righteous gun-owning class which can never become a victim of itself because reasons. A small percentage probably realize and accept that a consequence of arming the populace against government tyranny is that they themselves could become the targets of revolution and consider it a proper check against the system.
edited 28th Mar '16 12:35:20 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

If a large part of the population get the training then so do the violent criminals. Plus combat training is different from conflict resolution training. There's a reason the military don't do police work unless everything has gone to shit.
edited 28th Mar '16 11:25:30 AM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran