Coming from a county where there was a "draft" until 2011 (Germany), I have to say that his view points is very romantic, at least when it comes to the "nation-

Coming from a county where there was a "draft" until 2011 (Germany), I have to say that his view points is very romantic, at least when it comes to the "nation-building" part. First of all, military service for a small time is a big cost factor: this leads to the military trying to avoid spending, by making less people eligible. In Germany, it happened to multiple of my friends that just before they had to start their service, the military decided not to "pull" them because they made their categories non-eligible for military service. This severly damages the fairness of the service. Had there not been the option of civil service as a replacement, that unfairness would have been even worse: the modern military just doesn't have enough resources to have a whole generation in service all the time. Second, I feel as connected to my generation/nation before or after my service. I consciously did civil service[1] and liked it, though. What I _liked_ about the service was that it forces you to do something non-proitable for a while. Even though I had my eyes on doing something in IT and my "straight" career path would have direcly led me to university, I was caring for mentally disabled people for a year. It is an experience I don't want to miss and gave me a lot of insight into and respect the whole "social support" branch of society, which I still hold in very high regard. It is also an experience I would have skipped if I had the choice. [1]: By which I mean: I did civil service because I saw it more fit for me, not because I absolutely wanted to avoid military.