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

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.

I’d sooner go to prison

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.

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.

“Fuck off”

forcing military service in the US would only make Nazis. anyone who didn’t do their service because of any number of reasons would be considered less than American. we already see it today from the far right. they look for literally any reason to belittle anyone for any reason. and you’re fooling yourself if you think the far left wouldn’t do the same exact thing.

no, we need less forced differences and more forced acceptance, we do that by forcing people to be emersed in the environments they fear the most.

put that loudmouthed racist redneck in the ghetto to rehab homes of the community.

put that bankers son in the soup kitchen, or shelter, or building shelters to help the less fortunate.

put that poor black kid in the rich white neighborhood for community and political outreach programs.

ram this shit down Americans throats long enough and we’ll get the picture in 10-20 years. it won’t stop, never stop, until we all accept each other for who/what we are.

and if ANYONE unreasonably attacks these people, they are charged with federal crimes and serve a sentence that…you guessed it, puts them into the same service regardless of position or power. and depending on the violence of the crime may need to serve time in fedpen.

All Americans treated equally under liberty and justice for all. 🫵

Conscription is slavery if the people are not under imminent threat.

Conscription will always be used as weapon of the rich against the poor.

Conscription will never affect the children of the rich as much as it affects the poor.

Conscription does demystify military service and can teach useful skills.

Balancing these and other factors is always the trick.

I’d prefer a voluntary military service in a society that strongly encourages people to sign up for short service periods and doesn’t lock them in for years as an anti-abuse measure, as a training program for a more popular citizen militia defense scheme.

Change “military” to “national” and I do, with appropriate exemptions for disabilities. There’s usually something a person can do for public service, even if it’s keeping a dying patient company.

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?

I read a novel written by a Vietnam era draftee.

There was a scene where two draftees were talking about ending the draft. One was against it because it would mean that all the people in the Army would be ‘lifers’ and lifers were the ones who were quickest to massacre civilians.

Hunter Thompson wrote about it once. His opinion was that when he served, a lot of upper class families sent their sons to the Army. That meant that they were meeting and working with all types of people.

My personal take is that it’s a good thing, if there’s a non-military equivalent, something like FDR’s CCC

Mandatory military service is the one case where accelerationism might possibly make sense. The fact that the military is made up of volunteers makes it harder to radicalize, and people are more willing to support war because, “The soldiers chose to be there.” Go ahead, rip people away from the comfort of our homes, give us guns and training, and tell us we have to go risk our lives murdering brown people on the other side of the world in pointless conflicts in service of corporate interests - it’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for them.

I oppose the draft because I wouldn’t want to subject myself or others to that. But at the same time, I dare them to try it.

My response to the title: No

If I am being forced to, I will try to steer it towards any non-combant service like IT or (if necessary) social service.

I like the idea because it gives people job experience and forces them to interact with a broader cross-section of society, and might help some people who wouldn’t otherwise do so consider it as a career, making the military more diverse. It also helps us be more prepared in the event of a major war. And obviously teenage conscripts should never be given combat deployments unless the homeland is literally being invaded, we’ve seen how traumatic that is even for people who self-select into it. I very much doubt it would do anything to decrease gun violence.