We can't afford it financially. My son served in direct combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would not have wanted him to be serving with anyone who didn't want to be in the military, and neither would he. I would say that, as a general statement, our present day military is as elite as it's ever been, and I prefer to leave it that way. Perhaps the sheepdogs should just be the sheepdogs, ya know? I volunteered and served in the Army in the mid-70s. I'm proud of that, and no one can take it away from me. I have met many people my age over the years who didn't serve but now wish they had. So, my outlook is that the choice to not serve carries with it the lifelong knowledge that you didn't serve. It is not "getting over". It is something many will regret, but by the time they do, it's too late. My two cents ...
Yes, maybe it is, because Greece is in the Mediterranean area, and Brazil is in the southern hemisphere?
Gosh, all kinds of wonderous anecdotal stories about the superiorityness of volunteers. Too bad basing policies on biased, personal anecdotes is worthless as a basis for any policy, public or private. Why not use Nadal Hasan or Bradley Manning as examples of wonderful volunteers? Frazier Glenn Miller? Timothy McVeigh, anyone?
I served during that time. I never went overseas. One thing people never mention about the military is the fact that some of the lowest forms of life end up there. Some were so good that they could steal a radio and leave the music playing. Just saying...
A lot of people drift around after high school. Take a few crappy jobs and end up stuck in the town they were born in. They are of small service to their community or country. Make people serve a few years. They might just learn something.
I don't understand your point. Are you suggesting that small town USA doesn't have anything going for it, so, getting "stuck there" is somehow bad? I know a whole host of folks who would disagree with your sentiment. More, does requiring military service, in your mind, preclude them from going back in some way? You seem worried about "small service". I can give plenty of examples of folks who live in large urban areas that are significantly more of a drain on systems. Mandatory service gets in the way of folks who think that their version of life is more important than the civic responsibility of their citizenship. More, mandatory service breaks the cycle of indoctrination that liberalism is so dependent on. Why on earth would liberals ever support such a thing? It's why they use it as a threat and not an opportunity.
Could they be trusted? I mean, being uprooted from their home would mean there'd be lots of disgruntled youths around with rifles and grenades etc looking for a chance to "accidentally" frag their officers and anybody else. I saw something like that 20 years ago when me and other unemployed people were put on compulsory work schemes to "earn" our dole, and some were sabotaging things every step of the way, for example one guy "accidentally" let slip a shovel which would have taken somebody's leg off if it'd hit anybody. Another gang was put on clearing shrubbery alongside a rail line and used to amuse themselves by putting small boulders and branches and stuff on the line to try to derail trains...
Who knows why the OP believes this. We already have a 100% volunteer military. People that WANT to be here.
I'm unclear on how you made the connection from Bourne's plan to all conservatives, but we do pay for college for people who enlist. So if you want free college, join the military.
And if we can have mandatory military service in which the majority of the population serves in the military and then gets free college, then we can also have free college without the military service.
My only point was lots of people could benefit from two years military or public service. Nothing wrong with life in a home town. And again they don't have to go....but there are things they should not get it they don't - - - Updated - - - But with the military or public service those people earned that benefit.
This country needs a reliable source of personnel to protect it and enhance the infrastructure. Mandatory national service would effectively and economically accomplish those goals and offer the participants benefits. Win-win for everyone. Except, of course, for the lazy a** clowns who want a free ride. Regards, Jason Bourne
There's a reason you're not in charge of things like this. If it were a win win, we'd have it. Instead, it's a horrible idea and we don't have it. We have the best military in the world and it's 100% volunteer.
Agree completely. Those that want to apply themselves could be anything. Those that don't get the trash jobs
And what part of my plan are you not getting. Your punishment is you can't be a cop or get a federally back college or house loan.
Were you still in when the street gangs began flooding into the 'superior all volunteer army' and robbing it blind? I recall it was so bad they had to spend a lot of time weeding them out and finally imposed a code on rejecting 'volunteers' based on their tattoos. It got so bad that many officers in line units were giving readiness reports estimating some 60% of their unit personnel would 'likely head for the fences' if they were called up for a conflict. Several had formed police teams using trusted men that were assigned to be used to guard the barracks if orders came down to bug out for somewhere, and alot a few to be assigned to the MP units for the base.