OPINION: Conscription should be mandatory for everyone
Service in military teaches timeliness, self-suffiency, other important skills
COURTESY U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD
Requiring military service would give young adults time to develop physically and mentally, while also giving them a chance to learn life skills and gain traits that could make them more hireable.
September 23, 2019
College students often aren’t considered full adults because the brain isn’t fully developed until around 25. Therefore, a way to help young adults develop mentally and physically would be mandatory conscription for all healthy graduates of high school. With no other exceptions.
“I believe there should be mandatory conscription,” said music instructor Dave Snider, who spent 24 years in the Air Force. “[Service] enhanced my skills.”
The military isn’t all about combat and destruction. In fact, it can be a realm to hone one’s professional skills as well as instilling traits that can make you more successful.
“The military are the smartest, the healthiest group of people anywhere in the world,” Snider said. “You have to be deployable, and you have to be able to do your job.”
For most career paths, military experience can easily benefit anyone. Every branch has a legal, medical and public relations department, as well as many more options for those who do not want to focus on combat roles.
These jobs will enable many people to see the world, and give them the possibility to experience new cultures abroad as well as at home.
Snider said employers want people from the military.
The armed forces of America advertises that people can see the world while in uniform, and in many instances it is true. There are hundreds of military bases all over the world, and many of them are in locations that would be otherwise inaccessible to many Americans.
“I was the first of 80 westerners to march in Red Square with the Air Force band,” Snider said. “We marched in Red Square on VE [Victory in Europe] Day in May of 1993, celebrating the end of World War II.”
Travel is not the only possible benefit from mandatory conscription after high school. The military can teach important professional skills that may not be learned by many until they start their first job after college.
“In the military, if you’re a f-ckup, you’re out,” Snider said. “They don’t f-ck around with being late. You show up on time.”
Timeliness and professionalism are things that cannot be learned simply by going to class. The military can do a lot for people who may struggle further down the road in terms of professionalism and grace under pressure. Service in the military can be a stressful time, and while many might not use the training they had for their job in the military, they can certainly use their strategies for managing stress.
“They’ll learn once they get into the real world,” Snider said. “This job isn’t like a class you want to miss. Sorry, you’re fired.”
The standard contract for someone enlisting in the U.S. military is four years. However, if conscription were implemented, it would be less. Israel, Russia, Norway, Austria, Taiwan and many other nations enlist people for fewer than four years.
Basic combat training in the army is ten weeks. If you wanted to continue to a different job, that adds more time. Training to be an electrician in the army would take an additional seven weeks. These jobs could help kickstart careers or just give individuals very valuable skills that they would not have learned otherwise.
While conscription might not be people’s ideal way of dealing with newly graduated high schoolers, this helps level the playing field for people in this country who are disadvantaged. The military has a wealth of benefits, and this can give access to some form of healthcare even if it may not be the best. It also offers university tuition assistance.
Putting into practice a mandatory year and a half conscription system would directly benefit many Americans who deserve opportunities that would not be possible otherwise.
“[Former military] are reliable. They’re on time. They know what dedication and loyalty is,” Snider said. “They know what it’s like to work, [serving in the military] will really take a young person and turn them into adults.”
D. Rose • Sep 27, 2019 at 12:49 pm
I’m all for a national service requirement. There probably should be alternative options for people whose religious convictions don’t allow military service, but otherwise, military/militia service should be mandatory.
It also squares up perfectly with the Constitution. The Second Amendment specifies that a “well-regulated militia” is essential to the security of a free state. The states are empowered to maintain their own militias, which can be federalized in times of national emergency. And federal law specifies that all males between ages 17 and 45 are considered part of the “unorganized militia” (which is what the military draft was based on).
I wouldn’t call it mandatory conscription, but that quibble aside, I believe requiring everyone to participate in a state-level organized militia is the most quintessentially American thing we could do. It would change this country for the better.
Jake • Sep 26, 2019 at 1:05 pm
That’s a hot take. I really love how America has gone from rising in the streets to stop a war in the 60’s (per the comment above) to loving the military so much people actively advocate citizens involuntarily joining the military.
For why? As the columnist put it: “While conscription might not be people’s ideal way of dealing with newly graduated high schoolers, this helps level the playing field for people in this country who are disadvantaged. The military has a wealth of benefits, and this can give access to some form of healthcare even if it may not be the best. It also offers university tuition assistance.”
Uh-huh, so people inherently disadvantaged by the system, such as racial minorities, would benefit best from… as I’m understanding it, and this is very important, fighting wars declared by out-of-touch politicians and risking their lives for the goal of advancing American global hegemony. But hey, at least you get healthcare. Forget about all those countries that provide healthcare to poor and disadvantaged people regardless of their status in the military. America wants YOU to provide labor as the best way to advance political interests. THEN the poor and disadvantaged get some crumbs.
But it’s a great way for young people to get experience! According to Mulmat: “College students often aren’t considered full adults because the brain isn’t fully developed until around 25. Therefore, a way to help young adults develop mentally and physically would be mandatory conscription for all healthy graduates of high school. With no other exceptions. ”
Oh right, because that’s what the military needs most is under-educated, mentally and physically underdeveloped young adults to do the fighting for them. This may seem sarcastic but that is literally how they do it. Recruiters come to high schools to persuade under-developed adults, kids even, to do their bidding for them. This does not happen anywhere else in the world.
But it’s not what the military needs, it’s what you, the average citizen needs. “Therefore, a way to help young adults develop mentally and physically would be mandatory conscription for all healthy graduates of high school.” Ummm, yeah, I guess that’s ONE way. What about hobbies, like karate, or reading books or getting involved in a club? Do those not also help to develop young minds? Or would you rather put them through military training, thus increasing our military budget exponentially and fueling the military-industrial complex that is already inherently draining on our system.
BUT YOU CAN TRAVEL, said the professor whose literal job it was in the military to export American culture to nations which politicians decided needed a healthy dose of American power and to rally support at home. (I say this with all due respect to Professor Snider and all veterans, including my father who spent nearly four years of his life deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.) It certainly sounds like he got something good out of it, having sharpened his skills and landing a great job as an educator. My father did as well. However, joining the military was not the only course they could have taken. That’s the great thing about America: we have the choice to take action and make our lives better. Other people in the military do not have it as good. Other jobs in the military will give personnel the opportunity to live on bases in barracks, work on bases, and get deployed to dreadful places.
It certainly says something about our society when the military is lauded as much as this post makes it seem. College should be a place where young people go to develop their minds so they don’t take everything at face value. People get sucked into the scheme all the time. The benefits sure do seem to outweigh the consequences. But why should it be mandatory for everyone? What if such healthy adults that you argue should be drafted are not “up-to-snuff?” Why can’t they use the skills they do have to benefit other institutions or themselves, rather than to serve the machine?
I’m going to argue a direct counterpoint that aims to solve similar goals: The military should only hire those who: a.) want to join, b.) have the skillset needed to perform a specific function, and c.) those who are serious about growing in such an environment where discipline and motivation are commended and creativity and thoughtfulness are not.
This, in effect, would make requirements to join much more stringent. However, we may see a more effective military if a higher percentage of enlisted personnel have the drive to become effective, rather than a bunch of people in the military for the sweet sweet pay raise and the healthcare. Essentially, it shouldn’t be about the benefits but rather the drive to serve. Along with that, we as a country need to provide people with benefits such as healthcare and free college regardless. However, that’s a topic I won’t explore in detail here. I won’t explore the idea, either, that American military might relies on imperialism and protecting trade routes for our ultra-capitalist society desperate needs to function.
My main point I am trying to argue is that Americans should not lick the boots of every single Tom, Dick and Sue who joins the military. A lot of them joined so they could pay their bills easier, or get a sweet new Dodge Challenger. A lot of them are really dumb, contrary to Snider saying “the military are the smartest, the healthiest group of people anywhere in the world. You have to be deployable, and you have to be able to do your job.” Those two criteria are actually really easy to meet, because they train you to do those two things. They have nothing to do with intelligence. Again, no disrespect to servicemembers. I just see dumb stuff all the time on social media regarding my buddies who serve. Meanwhile, a lot of great soldiers and patriots have developed because of the military, because they had that drive to succeed. Not every soldier or servicemember is like that. That is why it is better to have the choice to serve. Keep the military an all-volunteer military.
Tim Haight • Sep 24, 2019 at 5:02 pm
There are other benefits as well.
One is cheaper education. Depending on where you fall, the GI bill and tuition reimbursement will pay all or part of your education.
I left the Air Force in 1989, at that time there was a 90% tuition reimbursement. I was paying as little as $20 for a course at a community college.
The VA website says its 100% paid for public colleges, and a certain amount for private.
Veteran’s preference is another benefit. Many employers give points for veterans. When I left the Air Force, I still had an active security clearance so I got right in at Boeing on an Air Force project. Later I went to work at Hanford, and had the veterans preference points that gave me that extra.
Most of the managers I worked for were military officers, so that was a big plus.
George Vance • Sep 24, 2019 at 3:48 pm
As a person who was 20 years old 50 years ago in 1969 and directly affected by the draft (mandatory conscription) I read with some interest the opinion column “Conscription should be mandatory for everyone” by Bruce Mulmat.
Mr. Mulmat reasons for reinstating conscription is based on patriotism and the possibility of useful training. Understanding that we all owe our country something is a valid reason for universal service. Also, much of the training Mr. Mulmat speaks of may not be available in college, technical schools, or life in general for large segments of Americ’s youthful population.
I myself come from a different perspective. In the 1960s, my generation went to the streets to stop a war that most Americans came to know as wrong. The soldiers that fought and died were not wrong and should never have been disrespected. It was the politicians that put us in that war and they were wrong.
A major goal was to end the draft. At the time I was in total agreement that that was the right policy. I have come to realize that my thinking was flawed.
What we in the college community of the 1960s did not recognize was the political aspect of the draft. The draft made us stay up on government and current events. We understood what was happening in America, the world in general, and of course our own lives. A person with a 1-A draft standing knew it very intimately.
The current generation does not have an issue that pulls them into the political current fray like the draft in the ’60s. I do hope that climate change becomes your issue.
I would just add a little to Mr. Mulmat’s comments. I would give students from ages 18 to 26 the opportunity to go into the military, join the Peace Corps, the Teachers Corps, or work in such places as rural and intercity areas.
Not all students should be forced into the military but all students should give back a little to the country that they were lucky enough to have been born into.