Mandatory Military Service

[Colorado Cowboy]

I believe you have missed my point entirely. I don't think when you or I were born has anything to do with it. I also see that you seem to think age alone lends some credence to your whatever point you are trying to make. It does not.

My point was if you were not an adult in 1965 you have no idea what the financial situation was like. I bought my first house in 1966 for $14,000. 40 thousand was a lot of money in 1965.

 

[RS3579]

So there is an ongoing thread about drug addicts living in the street in tents, wherever they please (AKa homeless) and current situation here in the US. Is not working. There are a number of things that could turn the corner on the current drug epidemic, but I seriously would be in favor of mandatory military service being discussed by the powers to be.

After HS you want to go to college? Great, upon completion those graduates could enlist as officers. College isn’t in your future? Then you simply fulfill your obligations as an enlisted member. There are a number of reasons this would be a net positive. Men looking like men for one.

Edit…… this is for all US citizens and legal residents.

Thoughts?

Did you serve in the armed forces? If not sign YOURSELF up. This ain’t North Korea, yet.

 

[Dave_S]

My point was if you were not an adult in 1965 you have no idea what the financial situation was like. I bought my first house in 1966 for $14,000. 40 thousand was a lot of money in 1965.

You've lost me. Either I completely misunderstood your post or you misunderstood mine. I'm not looking to derail the thread any further. Cheers.

 

[Coveyleader]

Did you serve in the armed forces? If not sign YOURSELF up. This ain’t North Korea, yet.

Not that it matters, but to answer your question, yes.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

As posted above

“but I also find that veterans fall into one of 2 categories, the homeless drug addicts that were mentioned at the beginning of this thread, or the thankfully majority who seem to have their stuff together, likely learned a skill in the military that they were able to put to work afterward and aren’t as deeply in debt as the average American because they likely didn’t rack up the student debt and also were able to hopefully save and invest while having a lot of their needs provided for in the first few years of their adult lives.”

Pretty shallow perspective of people that have served in uniform imo

Are there not a non zero quantity of homeless drug addicted veterans?


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[Mtns2hunt]

I have not read every post on here. But we tried conscription once. Ask any Vietnam vet. Conscription was a disaster. Many used drugs, were unruly, resisted all team work. Some even fraged fellow soldiers and especially officers. Conscription should be a last resort.

 

[Son657]

Solid alternative to forced conscription regimented, military style PE classes could build discipline, teamwork, and fitness nationwide without trampling freedoms, especially since kids aren't farming anymore and obesity mental health issues are rampant.
Uniform standards via DoE even if it's flawed could enforce real PT runs, calisthenics, team drills over lame dodgeball, and embedding service members as trainers sounds badass but pricey new training programs billions, plus vet burnout risk.
Massive backlash parents suing over "militarization," teacher unions fighting, uneven enforcement in rural vs urban schools, and local control fans like you would hate the fed overreach.
Worth debating, but start small: Pilot in willing states, tie to incentives extra funding for compliant schools. Could toughen up the next gen without drafts I'm in if it's voluntary opt in first.

 

[Speaks]

Any thought pattern that resembles "I would like X therefore I will force it upon others" is inherently un-American and goes against anything the military should be protecting anyway.

 

[WoolOverAll]

We should give our youth a reason to want to volunteer. I'm not sure how many of you have been around an actual teenager lately, but their cohort is doing very poorly due to circumstances out of their control. Instead of thrusting a gun into the hands of the kids we failed, we should look at how to help them get to where we were at their age.

 

[PARA1977]

As someone who served and retired I beg everyone
To consider conscription as a horrible idea. Now in the event of a Hot War I could see numbers needed in certain MOS fields that it could be beneficial just not Combat Arms MOS. We spend so much as a taxpayer for training soldiers a two year conscription would not be worth the spend.
Now If you say it’s character building I would agree but the same can be done through ROTC being mandatory is High Schools I can get on board with that for sure.