Mandatory Military Service a good idea or a bad one?

Cdt Matteo

Cdt Matteo

Active member
I've been thinking about it lately. As you all know I live in Canada. Second largest nation with a ridiculously small population. Although we don't have any homeland threats at the moment, many old threats could arise very easily (the indian group who bombed that one plane, quebec seperatists, terrorists). I really think that Canada should have mandatory military service due to it's huge border and small population. There's many pros and cons to this but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

I think we would have a much better educated population because of all these people who bash our armed forces would understand what the men and women in uniform are going through so the'd shut their mouths.
It'd open doors to many youth who don't know what to do with their life (ie a career in the armed forces).
It'd toughen people up (ie seperating the men from the boys).
Provide money to people who need it.
Make the population more patriotic (I see too many people who hate their nation).

Now I'm not just talking about solely Canada having this, but I'm talking about other countries as well and the general concept of mandatory military service. What are your thoughts?
(Of course this is a bias on my part!)
 
There are really two ways to take this issue. The first is to relegate the model to Canada whereas the second would be to apply it to other countries.
First, strategically, Canada does not have a pressing need for a large military to secure their borders. The ONLY adjacent country is the US of A and I dont think we will be attacking anytime soon. Not to mention the fact that Canada is our neighbor and a mounting security threat to her will also cause us concern. I doubt that Canada would have to fight alone.
Second, if you are referring to more civilan (Police, DEA, etc.) security as opposed to military security, then mandatory military service is not the way to go.

On the whole, it has both good and bad points. First, a dirtbag is a dirtbag is a dirtbag. No matter what training you pound into his brain or how many times you teach him discipline, he will be a dirtbag. He just might end up being a well trained dirtbag. Unfortunetly, you could be arming the very people you would have to fight later with the knowledge of your training and tactics.
Second, a mandatory anything makes people angry, especially if you start telling people to serve in the armed forces. You will get all kinds of people in there who absolutely hate every moment of it and will take that experience to heart on why the military or perhaps the Canadian government is evil (which its not). The would definetly put a damper on patriotism.
Finally and most importantly, not everyone should be in the military. As a member of the combat arms, it is very important to me who the men to my left and right are. If they are not willing to protect me with their lives, as I am for them, then I will die. I dont want average joe who hates the military and will not do a good job watching my 6 in a combat zone. I expect my peers to do their job 110% and I will do the same.

THat being said, I think some type of mandatory civil service could be good. Having the population choose where they work gives them a hand in it and allows people to have a peek into the different areas of government, be it the military, LEOs, park ranger, etc.
 
The quality of conscripts is always inferior to that of volunteers. Unless they are particularly self-motivated conscripts.

I'd say definitely no. Most of the people around my age (18) over here are simply unfit for service for psychological reasons. I don't think they could take it. And they'd resent their country for forcing them into it.

Save the draft for an emergency.
 
Or exceptionally well led conscripts.
Don't look down on them too much. Some of them are actually surprisingly good at what they are meant to do after a good kicking.
And not to mention, I've seen some really bad volunteers as well. They volunteer, think they're entitled to the whole world and won't move to do a single hour of work.
Also remember that conscription is very expensive and that means outfitting with the state of the art equipment will be a tricky affair.
Unless you have a direct threat next door that requires a large, heavy Army, conscription isn't practical.
 
I personally think its a great idea, however I would make it a screening process for the reasons of people who mentally challenged in various ways or have no living relatives to carry on the family name etc. But I think for the average person it would teach discipline and order to a generation which lacks it. Anyway alittle fear never hurt anyone:whip:
 
i personally dont think the military is for every1.some ppl r just cnfused n jump rightg in to something they dont know about.or they choose a job or branch on a spurrs notice because they're mad at mommy n daddy. thety say they need to get away n do soething with their lives which is understandable.but they need 2 b in some good physical n mental health.i've seen some ppl crack just bekause they got chewed out or they failed a pft or some sort.if some1 does join they need to think of not just for school or the money but the years to come while in the service.
 
HR RODRIGUEZ said:
i personally dont think the military is for every1.some ppl r just cnfused n jump rightg in to something they dont know about.or they choose a job or branch on a spurrs notice because they're mad at mommy n daddy. thety say they need to get away n do soething with their lives which is understandable.but they need 2 b in some good physical n mental health.i've seen some ppl crack just bekause they got chewed out or they failed a pft or some sort.if some1 does join they need to think of not just for school or the money but the years to come while in the service.
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Who are you?

Im no moderator so all I will say is:

Prepare for INCOMING!!!
 
HR RODRIGUEZ said:
i personally dont think the military is for every1.some ppl r just cnfused n jump rightg in to something they dont know about.or they choose a job or branch on a spurrs notice because they're mad at mommy n daddy. thety say they need to get away n do soething with their lives which is understandable.but they need 2 b in some good physical n mental health.i've seen some ppl crack just bekause they got chewed out or they failed a pft or some sort.if some1 does join they need to think of not just for school or the money but the years to come while in the service.
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First of all, if you're going to participate in conversations here, please type properly.

Second, welcome to the Forums. If you could head on over to the Welcoming section, and provide a quick rundown on yourself, that would be great.

Now, onto the issue. Mandatory service wouldn't be a great idea. While the idea has its advantages, there are also several disadvantages, many of which have been mentioned. Conscription (especially in 'peacetime') can have an adverse effect on the morale of the troops, and the nation as a whole. There would be many people forced to join the military, which would create a major disciplinary and administrative burden on their superiors because of a general unwillingness to serve, as well as a mentality of "if I cause trouble for these people, they'll let me go". And that can take its toll on unit cohesion and morale.

Another issue would be payment. A large influx of conscripts would mean more money has to be spent on paying them, as well as volunteer troops. Considering the current Canadian economy, this would be extremely difficult. Sure, we could just not pay them, but in all honesty...as there is no threat to their way of life or their families, they would want to at least be paid for putting their life on the line, daily. This, coupled together with the cost of training and equipping these new troops would be enormous.

In general and as many before me have already said, conscription should only be used in times of absolute crisis.

"Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription" - William Lyon Mackenzie King on conscription during WWII
 
Now I was conscripted into the British Army, now i was only weeks away from sitting my finial exams as a Electrical Engineer. I could get a waver but I had to agree to sign on for a minimum of 11 years. as you can guess I refused. Now after ten weeks training I shipped of to foreign parts to fight for Queen & Country and I wound up in one of the top British regiments who where the first into action. I spent nearly 18 months fighting to stay alive and the campaigns we fought in had casualty rates that make today's British casualty figures for Iraq and Afghanistan look small in comparison, now becuase we were conscripted the government did not treated as proper soldiers and we only got half the pay of a regular soldier. Come demob you handed in your uniform and you were left to fend for your self with only the remains of your last weeks pay in your pocket.
The British Conscript soldiers fought in all the campaigns from 1945 to the early 1960's
and you will not find any Army commander complaining about they way handled themselves or the courage that they showed. There is a site called British Small Wars which covers most of these battles from 1945, and the only year a British soldier was killed on ACTIVE Service was 1969.
Now if Canada wants to do some thing then why not teach all college students the basics about the military as a part of their course work so that their would always be a large pool of semi trained people available in an emergency
 
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I can confirm Le's account of events, from experience, like him. Some 50 years later, when I was able to check the archives of my regiment for the period in which I served, I found my dept. which was Battalion HQ in Middle East and UK. Although I was a amongst the senior corporals of the battalion, there was no mention of me or any of the other conscripts. Obviously, despite our contribution, we didn't really count, and those years showed no record, in the Regimental annals, that we ever existed. Sad for those who never made it back. I was proud of my efforts, handling an important one man job and soldiering without any difference between myself and regulars, except they got paid more.
 
Mandatory public service, perhaps, is not a bad idea. Mandatory basic military training is, likewise, not a bad idea - it would provide a faster call-up should the need arise. However, actual service should remain volunteer except in cases of great and pressing need. It's just not worth the trouble to conscript troops when we don't really need them.
 
I don't believe in mandatory military service, but I think mandatory public service of some type out of high school for everyone. Of course, the ridiculously rich and illegal aliens would be able to avoid the service, though many of those could use it most. I'm thinking one year minimum, 3 years maximum, and educational benefits above and beyond room, board, and training. I would see mandatory out-of-state service so everyone would be living "on their own" for at least a year developing skills and a greater understanding of their place in the world. After service, each person will have earned credits good toward college or tech school.
 
I don't believe in mandatory service for the public, but in some cases, we could probably do something like using repeat juvenile offenders that are headed down the wrong path to put into the service for a yr or so and then let them decide at the end of their training, whether to follow the right path or go back into the life they left behind and end up in prison for a majority of their lives
 
Numbers in the forces is generally not the problem in peace time, it's money. Conscription would only exacerbate the problem.
 
Hi there!


Say no to the f... Conscripts, hell no. And i am planing to elaborate this as much as possible.

Ex Yugoslavia, and her JNA, Yugoslav National Army had a that model, (exept Off, and some NCO, and maybe paras, and SOF, i don t know detailles because i did not had a chance to be called, i allredy sign a contract to newborn Croatian army)

wich collapsed with the first shoot.

They where demoralised, but prety good trained, but army was multinational, so can you imagine tank crew composed of 4 or 5 nation, and all of them are in conflict. of course Serbian member was a co.

Croatian army had a mandatory service since 1991-1992 until 2008, last generation was in january 2008 i think. To held such a system, first of all cost a lot, and second, lots of conscripts where uninteresed. They received monthly fee about 40 dollars or so per month. They served first 12, then 10, and at the very end 6 months. And they could choose to serve even as a civilian, helping older people, etc.

In the wartime , some units even participate in combat, mostly arty guys.

But at the end that was not good idea, i dont know if you know this fact but , we have some kond of military trainning in elementary, and high school during socializm. So i learned assemble/dissasemble rifle, land mines, NBC when i was 15, or 14 years.

See you, ask what ever you want, about this sh..t

Stay well!
 
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greenricho said:
I don't believe in mandatory service for the public, but in some cases, we could probably do something like using repeat juvenile offenders that are headed down the wrong path to put into the service for a yr or so and then let them decide at the end of their training, whether to follow the right path or go back into the life they left behind and end up in prison for a majority of their lives
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What.

You want to give future criminals military training?
 
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