I think what lots of people are aiming for here is compulsory boot camp and the option to go into service. That way you get people's act together and you still maintain an all volunteer military.
Another thing about some limited compulsory service is that it doesn't put a divide between the people and the military like a lot of professional armies do. Often this is cased because these people who never have served have some strange idea that their military is going to take over their country and are going to make their lives completely miserable. Basically the only glimpses of the military they get is when something goes straight to hell and it makes the newspaper.
You have limited conscription? Then this tends to go away, because they know what it's like.
I know for quite sure that Belgium is pretty serious with this problem now that conscription has gone out the door. I think also wtih the younger generation, the US falls into this category of military hating as well. Places like Israel or Korea who have manditory service don't suffer from this civilian-military divide, while both maintain pretty good armies.

That swings both ways. I doubt people like Saddam or Stalin had folks lining up in any volunteer force either. And I don't see any great division in this country from the civilians and the military - far from it.

It depends.
I felt I saw quite a bit of it in DC. But I'm probably overreacting from the conspiracy theories I keep hearing there. Always seems to have the military doing no good to its own citizens in those for some reason.
Here's the thing, I hardly doubt the US would treat its conscripts the way Stalin or Saddam did.

DC is not emblematic of the US. It's the capital so of course you'll see alot more protesters there than in suburbia. Also the populace there is very anti-Bush as the fact that 90% of them voted against him so you won't find much good news about the military there at the moment.

Of course the US would treat conscripts better than Stalin or Saddam! That wasn't my point. My point is that the populace has no more or less to fear from a volunteer force than they do from a conscript force. You can make an arguement about "fear" for either. Our military works fine as it is - never better. When I got in the "bolo" Army was still around. Those were the draftees from the Vietnam era. It sucked BAD double stroke underline BAD!!

What I'm saying is, you could just pass them through boot camp, have them registered having finished basic training and just put them out into the civilian world. At the end of boot camp they could have the option of choosing their futures, one in the military, going on to further specialized training, and the other in the civilian world.

And yeah I guess you're right about DC. It's one weird place...

I understand where you're going, but it would never fly in this country. Nothing compulsory ever does. Hell ask 03USMC how hard it is to get people to comply with _driving_ laws.

Yeah that's the thing. Once you get rid of a draft... even unofficially, it's impossible to bring it back barring a disaster of epic proportions. Heck, if 9/11 couldn't bring it back, imagine what it would take to actually do so.

Like I said in an earlier post, I _served_ when there was a draft created force still around. It totally sucked. We are HUGELY better off without it.

Originally Posted by Charge_7

Whispering Death, you need to get a grip. I am NOT giving up my pension or my med benefits to field a huge army of misfits. No way - no how.

No no no, you misunderstand me man. Volunteers would be able to keep all their bennifits, it is the conscripts that would not be elligible for those bennifits. And as for the college thing, I think you would admit that you are the exception to the rule. Most people in non-military colleges are there without any intention of enlisting, so forcing those people into the military during peacetime would be counter productive both for the people being conscripted and for the military.

Do we understand eachother?

I understand you more clearly, however, I still disagree with you. Like I told the 13th Redneck, I served in the "bolo" Army. I never EVER want to see that again! You don't know how lucky you are we put an end to that.