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I like the national service requirement in Norway. You must either join the armed forces or some other type of national service for 18 months. I think it was

• closeparen 8y ago
  I’ve never been in the military so maybe this is overblown in popular culture. But as I understand it, service in the US is designed to destroy who you are and replace it with what your branch needs you to be. Right down things like banning the word “I” in favor of “this recruit.” Erasure of self and conditioning for obedience might be a good fit for certain people and certain tasks, like troubled kids and war-fighting, but I hope it’s never required for the whole population.
  • fucking_tragedy 8y ago
    From what I've heard from other people's experiences, it's less erasure of self and more of a program tuned to deal with the lowest common denominator, where the LCD is pretty damn low. The military needs a one size fits all program to deal with dropouts, people joining to get their shit together, and other societal misfits.
  • solatic 8y ago
    It's overblown. Boot camp needs to produce people who can fall in line and follow orders, but that's far and away from brainwashing or other attempts to rewrite your identity or beliefs. People who serve are individuals who have learned to operate within a hierarchy. Also, there are different boot camps for people in combat and non-combat roles. Even in conscription militaries, most people are recruited into non-combat roles.