4 ms·
Many countries, such as Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, require all males to serve ~2 years of military service (usually not in the field, just training an
by sleepydog 10y ago
Many countries, such as Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, require all males to serve ~2 years of military service (usually not in the field, just training and drills). While there are ways for the most privileged to get out of it, the people who I've talked to have described meeting people from parts of their country that they had no idea about.
I wonder if this idea could be applied to the US, making everyone 18-25 go 6-18 months of basic training and drills. You would certainly get to meet a lot of people you would not have otherwise.
- ptaipale 10y agoSure it is possible, and it was there, but the U.S. got rid of the draft after Vietnam war. And meeting everyone of your age cohort in the army conscription service is a revealing experience, I can assure you. More so than elementary school, because schools are like the areas where the pupils live; there is less diversity. To meet everyone is an experience. On the other hand, nowadays countries with conscription (like where I live, Finland) are not quite the same. The army here is more picky that before, so you actually don't see everyone. For instance, when I entered service (1986), only 2-3 % entered the alternative civilian service and 1-2 % were disqualified. Now 7 % go to civilian service and 2-3 % are disqualified (for medical reasons, etc). Thus, you have less pacifists in the army, and drug users and career criminals are excluded. The same would surely apply in the U.S. even if it had conscription.