Poll: Do you support compulsory military service?

[awesomeClaw]

How i define CMS:

Anytime where people are forced into military service without an overhanging threat for the countries safety.

So, do you support CMS?

Me? I don´t. Frankly, it´s not right to force people into something they don´t want. That´s all i got to say.

 

[Ham_authority95]

No, because I don't know if I'll be fixing radios in a base for 18 months or be in a bomb disposal squad in Afghanistan.

Unless they allow me a choice of how I'll serve, it doesn't seem to fit me.

That said, I wouldn't be too pissed off if I was drafted because more than 75% of the military are in non-combat roles and they probably need all the desk jobs they can get...

 

[CleverNickname]

Voted 'Other' - not all disagreement has to be so vehement.

Being German, I was used to the idea, as that's exactly what we had until this year. I didn't have to serve (disability) and most people I know chose civil service over the military (technically it's not a choice, but the rules for exemption could be exploited so easily, it might as well have been). It was never a controversial topic here, and even now that it's changed they only talk about financing and attraction.

I'm glad we don't have CMS anymore, though. Choice is superior. I didn't have to and never wanted to, but I still see the value in it. And I'd take a civilian job related to the military if I could think of one.

However, saying everything is automatically bad if it forced you to do something you don't want to is overly simplified. The majority of our lives consists of stuff we don't want. It starts in 2nd grade, it saps roughly half of every euro/pound/dollar you earn in your life and ends with the hefty pricetag on your coffin. It's not about what "I want", it's what "we need".

And we still need militaries. Once they go voluntary, it just switched from simply making you, to making you think you want to.

 

[Wadders]

Nope, it's pretty wrong to force people into doing it, and it just hurts the Military as you end up with people who dont want to be there and cant wait to get out.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I would say "no", I guess. Maybe in times of war, when there is a direct threat to the country, but otherwise I would say no. I like having the freedom to choose whether or not I can join the military.

 

[SilentCom]

CMS service isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows training and discipline of the population so the people can stand up and protect themselves in case their is an invasion. There are quite a few countries that do CMS and often offer alternative services such as Austria and Switzerland. I'm not saying it's always a good thing but it does give training and discipline the people. Of course it's probably not a good thing during times of war unless it hits home.
Keep in mind that we are not completely free as we are forced to follow laws, pay taxes, etc.

 

[thylasos]

No, it strikes me as utterly pointless and essentially a violation of human rights.

Even if the military gives you a hard-on, a professional army will always defeat conscripts, which is essentially all this is: temporary conscription.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

CMS service isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows training and discipline of the population so the people can stand up and protect themselves in case their is an invasion. There are quite a few countries that do CMS and often offer alternative services such as Austria and Switzerland. I'm not saying it's always a good thing but it does give training and discipline the people. Of course it's probably not a good thing during times of war unless it hits home.

pretty much this, except that i'm also a conscientious objector (a real one, not a coward). if serving my country doesn't involve me killing or assisting in killing some poor s.o.b. who was just forced into combat by his own country, i don't feel that it's entirely out of line. that's not to say i'd like it, but, yeah...

 

[Jonluw]

No, because I don't know if I'll be fixing radios in a base for 18 months or be in a bomb disposal squad in Afghanistan.

I think you've got the wrong picture of how compulsory military service works.
At least where I live, you can't be sent to a warzone outside the country (I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think it's right). Actually, I don't think you can be sent outside the country at all.
The one friend of mine who I can remember what did in the military spent a year on a mountain in the north being bored out of his mind.

I don't support it because... uhm... my country is generally a peaceful nation and I would like to see less tax-money going to the military I guess?
I don't think the difference in fighting capability come an invasion would be that much lower if we changed t oa professional military.

 

[SilentCom]

CMS service isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows training and discipline of the population so the people can stand up and protect themselves in case their is an invasion. There are quite a few countries that do CMS and often offer alternative services such as Austria and Switzerland. I'm not saying it's always a good thing but it does give training and discipline the people. Of course it's probably not a good thing during times of war unless it hits home.

pretty much this, except that i'm also a conscientious objector (a real one, not a coward). if serving my country doesn't involve me killing or assisting in killing some poor s.o.b. who was just forced into combat by his own country, i don't feel that it's entirely out of line. that's not to say i'd like it, but, yeah...

Much of the military doesn't even require you to pick up a gun and shoot people. There are a lot of support type roles such as engineer, intelligence analyst, liason officer, etc.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Never I say! Never!

It seems incredibly unfair for people to be forced into the military. If you die for your country by signing up voluntarily, that's something that you would probably have thought heavily over and come to accept as a possiblity. If you die for your country and you were forced to fight, then you have every right to be incredibly pissed off with your country from beyond the grave.


Regardless, I still don't think it's right to force people into something like that, even if you're never deployed in combat.

EDIT:

And you know this how?

Ask them. Ask how many would like to lose that pregnancy time off they get (or use it against their sick days). Ask how many would like to do the work that men do, the dirty grimy stuff. Its hard to make the argument without examples, but that one alone where women cant go to serve in the front line (or even be drafted, the last time I understood it), and yet they want to be "equal" with men is horse shit.

I see a very large hole in your argument.

Men can't get pregnant. You can't use pregnancy as a case for equality because it's an incomparable situation. The effects of pregnancy are a bit bigger than getting a bit porky and then a baby falls out. Maternity leave is really quite necessary.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

CMS service isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows training and discipline of the population so the people can stand up and protect themselves in case their is an invasion. There are quite a few countries that do CMS and often offer alternative services such as Austria and Switzerland. I'm not saying it's always a good thing but it does give training and discipline the people. Of course it's probably not a good thing during times of war unless it hits home.

pretty much this, except that i'm also a conscientious objector (a real one, not a coward). if serving my country doesn't involve me killing or assisting in killing some poor s.o.b. who was just forced into combat by his own country, i don't feel that it's entirely out of line. that's not to say i'd like it, but, yeah...

Much of the military doesn't even require you to pick up a gun and shoot people. There are a lot of support type roles such as engineer, intelligence analyst, liason officer, etc.

yes, but note that i included "assisting in killing". thus, intelligence analysis would be out. depending on applications, engineering or medical service could work. and a conscript would never be a liaison officer.

 

[Hrolf]

Modern warfare is highly technological. Only a professional military can fully utilize its capabilities. The days of the mass conscript armies are pretty much done. Ask the Iraqis

 

[bubba145]

only when absolutely necessary

 

[Ham_authority95]

No, because I don't know if I'll be fixing radios in a base for 18 months or be in a bomb disposal squad in Afghanistan.

I think you've got the wrong picture of how compulsory military service works.
At least where I live, you can't be sent to a warzone outside the country (I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think it's right). Actually, I don't think you can be sent outside the country at all.
The one friend of mine who I can remember what did in the military spent a year on a mountain in the north being bored out of his mind.

I don't support it because... uhm... my country is generally a peaceful nation and I would like to see less tax-money going to the military I guess?
I don't think the difference in fighting capability come an invasion would be that much lower if we changed t oa professional military.

Yeah, I'm from the US and we haven't had compulsory military since Vietnam, so I don't know how it would work.

I'm assuming that they would assign people based on their ability and the demand, if we did have it.

But you're probably right about the whole being bored out of your mind thing. My grandpa was drafted and all he did was fix radios in Korea for a year.

 

[Queen Michael]

No, I don't dig violence. It's not groovy.

 

[William MacKay]

if i was conscripted, i'd at least ask to be off the front lines.
Also, i think its sexist that only men can be deployed on front lines.

 

[SilentCom]

No, I don't dig violence. It's not groovy.

Except in video games.

 

[Lexodus]

No, but it's definitely useable as an outlet for cons and an 'intense rehab' for junkies.