Minor disagreement
anonymous
October 23 2009, 05:03:42 UTC
Note: I served during the VietNam era because of the draft. I received a letter stating that I would be scheduled for a physical exam, and I promptly joined the Navy, believing that I was too weak for the Marines, too near-sighted for the Air Force, and most likely allergic to rice paddies
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I'm of the opinion that mandatory public service could be a good thing, if done right. Germany has a program like that. All citizens have to spend two years doing something for the greater good, whether that's serving in the military or driving ambulances or whatnot.
Canada has a program called Katimavik that's sort of like Americorps, but it's small and volunteer only. I think a lot of young people would really benefit from having experience outside school and outside their home town/province/state. I don't think mandatory military service is necessarily a good thing, but I think making everyone put in some time helping (and exploring) their country would be a way to help instill self-confidence and maybe even a bit of national unity in people before sending them off to college.
Yeah, I don't like mandatory military service 'cause it means some poor schmo is stuck with religious whackos like me who are fans of passive, nonviolent resistance.
Speaking of which, do you know much about conscientious objector status? I've always been too disorganized to do the research (and am now too old for it to matter much) and wondered if it was something you knew much about.
All I really know about it is that you have to belong to certain religious denominations that are officially recognized as pacifists by the government. Beyond that, I know nada.
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The Civil War, people could buy their way out of the draft. Nam, not so much.
But yeah, you do give some good arguments in favor.
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Canada has a program called Katimavik that's sort of like Americorps, but it's small and volunteer only. I think a lot of young people would really benefit from having experience outside school and outside their home town/province/state. I don't think mandatory military service is necessarily a good thing, but I think making everyone put in some time helping (and exploring) their country would be a way to help instill self-confidence and maybe even a bit of national unity in people before sending them off to college.
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Speaking of which, do you know much about conscientious objector status? I've always been too disorganized to do the research (and am now too old for it to matter much) and wondered if it was something you knew much about.
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