Conscription In America

772 Words4 Pages
| Would you like to see your son, daughter, niece, nephew or teenage neighbor become hard-working, respectful, disciplined, honorable and prepared for life? Would you like to see crime, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse rates decline? No, this is not an advertisement for a magic pill; this is an argument for mandatory military service. Each passing generation produces teenagers who are more and more brazen, disrespectful, lazy and ill-qualified for success in the real world. Thus, our society becomes more dangerous, depleted and dishonest every year. With one simple – albeit radical – move, our government could eliminate these problems and help our children and our country reach their potential. Mandatory military service, or conscription, could cure many of our societal ills and allow American teenagers to truly reach their potential. Mandatory military service is one of the oldest forms of national service and is common to both democratic and non-democratic countries. Such democratic countries as Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey require male and occasionally female citizens to participate in military service when they become 18 years old. These countries prove that conscription, when handled properly, can be an asset to the military, the society and the conscript. Here's my basic plan for American conscription: Every able-bodied citizen (both men and women) must honorably serve at least two years in the United States military before they are 25 years old. They can enter the military branch of their liking, request to be trained in a specific field, and serve in the state of their choice. Furthermore, the military will guarantee that conscience objectors or conscripts wary of conflict will be placed only in non-hostile positions. After two years of service, conscripts are
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