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.

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. 🫵

Underdeveloped countries have it.

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.

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.

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.

I 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.

I was one of the last people in Sweden to muster for conscription, I failed the first (hearing) test and was discharged.

This was just before conscription was ended, and about a decade later we have conscription again in Sweden.

There are two main advantages to universal conscription in my oppinion.

1. It gives the population unity, it is a unifying experience that you have in common with everyone, this creates a stronger society.
2. It gives the population a general understanding of guns and military action, this is useful in war as people are already familiar with the basic concepts of firearms handling and military tactics, ok, they won’t be as good as professional soldiers, but they understand the concepts and that is a good foundation to build uppon.

I will not befriend anyone who voluntarily served in the armed forces. Kind of like how I won’t associate with anyone who works for a weapons company or as a cop. If military service was mandatory in the USA, I would renounce my citizenship and attempt to emigrate to a more sane country. People who choose violence as a career are not worth knowing.

I’m all for mandatory military training. Deployment is a separate issue.

I’m not for it but if mandatory service were a thing the population would be more hesitant to go to war knowing their flesh and blood might be included

Just imagine if instead of millitary service, it was compulsary public service that actually benefitted society. Nursing, construction/infrastructure, farming, teaching/childcare, etc.

Its astrounding how much money is pumped into the military industrial complex when it could be used to fund to many other programs for public good.

But that would be sOciALiSm.

My opinion is fuck no.