Conscription

[HBK-aholic]

Conscription (also known as "The Draft", the "Call-up" or "National service") is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of government policies that require citizens to serve in the armed forces.

I'm torn on this. While I dislike the idea of governments been allowed to force people to join the army, when they may not want to, and may even be against the war, I think at times it could be a necessity, and therefore governments do have a right to it.

Do you think governments should be allowed to 'force' people to join the army, or anything else, during times of war or crisis? What would you do if it happened and you were called up?

 

[klunderbunker]

This is an issue that comes up in America as well. My Uncle was drafted to fight in World War Two and never once wanted to go. He went and served honorably but because of an injury he received in combat his knee has never been the same and he's limped on it ever since. Why should he have been forced to go fight a war he didn't want any part of? This is best summed up by Muhammad Ali's comments when asked why he wouldn't fight in Vietnam: "I ain't got no quarrel with no Vietcong". While it wasn't legal, it makes all the sense in the world to me.

The other saying goes "There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer." Absolutely true. Volunteers want to go to war or into the military because of personal conviction. I remember somethign Norcal said a few months ago. He was talking about military service in exchange for jail time and he said that he didn't want to be in the middle of combat and have some kid that didn't want to be there behind him. Makes perfect sense to me. I understand the need for a draft, but I'll very rarely support one.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Absolutely not, unless we are in absolutely dire straights. If im in a fire fight, or sleeping in a ditch someplace counting on someone to watch my back, it had better be with someone who WANTS to be there, and is watching out for me, as I would be for them. If your forcing people to do this against there will, they are about useless. Forcing people to go could end up in death and incompetence on very large scales.

In order to effiecintly exist and thrive in war, you need commited, bands of brothers, who are wroking together toward a cause, not people who are forced to be there, and are scared, or indifferent.

Of course if it were to become totally necessary, and the fate of our nation depended on it, you would have to. Although in that case, all the people here would likely be up at arms anyway, to defend their families, and homes. So, 99% of the time, im giving this a big huge "no".

 

[Shadowmancer]

It depends on what the conscription is for, look at Holland, Israel and Finland. All these countries have conscription. I know that New Zealand had conscription after the Second World War for every male in the country. I can see it as a good thing if it is done with everyone doing a year in the military. It would help put discipline into young people, it would offer a career option that people would not have thought of before. I could see the go into boot camp come out and serve for a year working as a way of helping out those that need it, as well as supplying the country with a ready made army if the requirements for defending the country were needed.

 

[Tim]

The government should only use conscription only when it's absolutely necessary. So lets say that this person doesn't want to go to war, but he is forced to by the government. He is put on the front lines and after getting out of the plane he gets shot. Just like that. His life is gone because he was forced to join the war, and he didn't even want to be a part of it. This isn't fair at all, and surely there would be many people in the army and many volunteers, enough that you don't have to force people to go fight. And if these people are not comitted, they'll probably end up getting people who are trying to hustle them along, or help them with their weaponry, killd, all because they don't care about what they're doing. To fight in a war you need to be dedicated, otherwise it will just end up worse for everybody.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Absolutely not, unless we are in absolutely dire straights. If im in a fire fight, or sleeping in a ditch someplace counting on someone to watch my back, it had better be with someone who WANTS to be there, and is watching out for me, as I would be for them. If your forcing people to do this against there will, they are about useless. Forcing people to go could end up in death and incompetence on very large scales.

In order to effiecintly exist and thrive in war, you need commited, bands of brothers, who are wroking together toward a cause, not people who are forced to be there, and are scared, or indifferent.

Of course if it were to become totally necessary, and the fate of our nation depended on it, you would have to. Although in that case, all the people here would likely be up at arms anyway, to defend their families, and homes. So, 99% of the time, im giving this a big huge "no".

If I could merely say ALL OF THIS.. and that'd be that, I would. But I can't.. so I'll add.

NorCal makes the best point I've seen in this thread. Why "force" someone to defend your Country, when they don't want to? You're willingly training them against their will to become trained killers, and you're then giving them real, deadly weapons.. only to once again continue to force them into doing something they truly don't want to.

So when they don't act like team-players, or when they do more harm than help to their Unit, Squadron, etc. then how can they be properly blamed for it.. when they never wanted to be there to begin with? Yet they'll be Court Martialed.

Truth is, if my Country absolutely positively NEEDED to enlist the Draft all over again. We're fucked. Because to my knowledge, this country has the most dedicated and loyal followers any country could have. (minus, maybe, China/Japan - from various news reports) So on that note, if we ran out of those WILLING to fight the "good fight".. then I think we'd be down to those who shouldn't honesty be handling weapons of any kind.. much less to defend an entire Country.

 

[FromTheSouth]

The Draft should only be reinstated for defense purposes. I think that if this country is under threat of invasion, that everyone able should be called up to defend the nation. However, for foreign wars, I agree with NorCal. I'd like to think that if we were in a World War II situation, where I need to go to end the suffering of millions at the hands of a power hungry dictator intent on taking over the world, I would be in. I would want to be there. I almost signed up to go take over Iraq, but when I found out that we weren't getting the land or the oil, I found this activity to be not in my interest. If we go to war with China, we need everyone. There are so very few million man armies in the world, but if we are going to war with one, and my safety and the safety of my family was involved, I would hope all hands would be on deck, and those that didn't want to, I would hope that they would be forced too.

Other than that situation, volunteer armies are the way to go.