Service to the Country

Service: A Duty? A Benefit? Or Both, Or Perhaps Neither? While the choice of service to your country, on a national, state, or local government level, is an admirable and important endeavor, the choice must be driven by one's own conscience. To think globally, or for the good of the nation and even for the future – cannot be forced. To compel someone to serve their country, as with the military draft(conscription), is a non effective notion that will neither guarantee the strength and quality of a nation nor its military. Some say that the all-volunteer force is not necessarily good for the country or the military. Some think to maintain a serious fighting force this country needs to find ways to staff and pay for the military. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan, called for reinstating the draft. “I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk. You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game (Ricks).” Some feel a strong military denotes the real strength of a nation and patriotism has a great role in decisions made regarding service to this Nation. Some propose a revision of the draft that include both males and females and offer various options for the new conscripts. They want to offer the choice to give 18 months of military service with low pay but great post-service benefits like free college tuition. These conscripts would not be deployed into combat but could perform tasks currently outsourced at great cost to the government: paperwork, painting barracks, mowing lawns, driving generals around, and generally doing lower-skills tasks so professional soldiers don’t have to. If a new conscript wants to remain in military service after the designated time frame they would move into the professional force and receive weapons training, higher pay and better benefits (Ricks).
It is also suggested that those who object to a draft could opt out. “Those who