Youtube always shows off all the progressive and positive aspects of Europe. Bike lanes, relable trains.
Was so jealous.
Then heard that my game buddy is off to manditory milatary service.
The idea that the government can take away a year of your life, and thats normal is still a tough pill to swallow.
Finn here. The willingness to defend the country is high in Finland. For a small country like Finland it’s the most cost-effective way to keep up a credible defense. I guess a professional army might be an option now with NATO membership.
And, yes. It feels like the normal thing to do.
My grandfathers did it (and fought in two wars), my father did it, my older brother did it, plenty of friends did it at the same time as me.
It’s an experience you can bond over very quickly.
Theres definatly SOME good to it. Hell, maybe that will help reduce the crime rate too*. From what ive heard, you are forced to learn a skill, so more skilled workers.
*Just came back from holiday. First taxi from the airport has dents in the doors from kids throwing rocks. Depressing here
Probably. Pretty much anyone who wants to go career can.
It’s 5-6 months for the shortest service. In my case I volunteered to drive big rigs, so 12 months and I got a driver’s license that would’ve required two years of lorry driving as a civilian. It’s been my backup plan in case my career in rocket science hadn’t worked out.
Kind of a compromise for smaller countries that want to have a standing army. And some countries offer alternatives like civil service or paying additional taxes instead for those that don’t want to serve in the military.
The US having expensive higher education driving poorer people to join the military to afford it is bleaker honestly.
America here. I think that mandatory service is fine. Living in a largely democratic country should come with a price tag, not just be something that you get for free. E.g., immigrants that naturalize have to put a lot of effort into naturalization; as a result, they’re usually much more personally invested in their civic life, on average, than typical citizens. Maybe ppl here would care more about fixing the country instead of just making sure they got theirs if they had to work for a year or two as conscripts.
Mandatory military service teaches you how kill. Why not build communities by having 1 year social working instead, certainly that teaches you more about your community.
Not just kill; being in the military tends to teach people to work together, even if it for mindless, stupid make-work projects. Hell, most people in the military–in the US–are in support roles, rather than being front line combat troops. That said, I thnk that mandatory service should be expanded to include roles like peace corps, habitat for humanity, food banks, etc.
Unfortunately. Mandatory military service is critical to many countries survival. You NEED to have a population that understand the basics of how to organise a defense.
It’s the difference between being a country or being a province.
I will quote a Major in his response to why we don’t practise defense coming from the west.
“it’s possible we might be attacked from the west, but it would be a very long and strange route for the Russians to take”
The second half of your comment seems disconnected from the first? We are specifically talking about mandatory military service for community building.
Your first part is how mandatory military service is just to teach how to kill. Which is not true.
Most countries don’t need military service to work on community projects. Because people already know how their communities work, and there just isn’t a need for that type of slave labour.
What the military can get called in for though are things like disaster relief or searches for missing people where you need to look through a whole forest.
E.g., immigrants that naturalize have to put a *lot* of effort into naturalization; as a result, they’re usually much more personally invested in their civic life, on average, than typical citizens.
Civic Life: The public life of the citizen concerned with the affairs of the community and nation.
Person above me is talking about community building as well.
Youtube always shows off all the progressive and positive aspects of Europe. Bike lanes, relable trains. Was so jealous. Then heard that my game buddy is off to manditory milatary service.
The idea that the government can take away a year of your life, and thats normal is still a tough pill to swallow.
The vast majority of countries in Europe don’t have military service, and it’s no coincidence that the few countries which do, also border Russia.
Except for Greece and Turkey. They’re both waiting for a cow to wander onto the wrong side of Cyprus. (I joke, but not by much)
Do you think Europe is one country?
Doesnt the origianl post also treat Europe as one country?
Finn here. The willingness to defend the country is high in Finland. For a small country like Finland it’s the most cost-effective way to keep up a credible defense. I guess a professional army might be an option now with NATO membership.
And, yes. It feels like the normal thing to do.
My grandfathers did it (and fought in two wars), my father did it, my older brother did it, plenty of friends did it at the same time as me.
It’s an experience you can bond over very quickly.
Theres definatly SOME good to it. Hell, maybe that will help reduce the crime rate too*. From what ive heard, you are forced to learn a skill, so more skilled workers.
*Just came back from holiday. First taxi from the airport has dents in the doors from kids throwing rocks. Depressing here
Probably. Pretty much anyone who wants to go career can.
It’s 5-6 months for the shortest service. In my case I volunteered to drive big rigs, so 12 months and I got a driver’s license that would’ve required two years of lorry driving as a civilian. It’s been my backup plan in case my career in rocket science hadn’t worked out.
Kind of a compromise for smaller countries that want to have a standing army. And some countries offer alternatives like civil service or paying additional taxes instead for those that don’t want to serve in the military.
The US having expensive higher education driving poorer people to join the military to afford it is bleaker honestly.
America here. I think that mandatory service is fine. Living in a largely democratic country should come with a price tag, not just be something that you get for free. E.g., immigrants that naturalize have to put a lot of effort into naturalization; as a result, they’re usually much more personally invested in their civic life, on average, than typical citizens. Maybe ppl here would care more about fixing the country instead of just making sure they got theirs if they had to work for a year or two as conscripts.
A year in retail too, while we’re at it.
Truth. The time I spent in retail made me much more patient.
Mandatory military service teaches you how kill. Why not build communities by having 1 year social working instead, certainly that teaches you more about your community.
Not just kill; being in the military tends to teach people to work together, even if it for mindless, stupid make-work projects. Hell, most people in the military–in the US–are in support roles, rather than being front line combat troops. That said, I thnk that mandatory service should be expanded to include roles like peace corps, habitat for humanity, food banks, etc.
Unfortunately. Mandatory military service is critical to many countries survival. You NEED to have a population that understand the basics of how to organise a defense.
It’s the difference between being a country or being a province.
I will quote a Major in his response to why we don’t practise defense coming from the west.
The second half of your comment seems disconnected from the first? We are specifically talking about mandatory military service for community building.
No one is talking about that other than you.
Your first part is how mandatory military service is just to teach how to kill. Which is not true.
Most countries don’t need military service to work on community projects. Because people already know how their communities work, and there just isn’t a need for that type of slave labour.
What the military can get called in for though are things like disaster relief or searches for missing people where you need to look through a whole forest.
Person above me is talking about community building as well.
Well the thing is that not rvery country has this.