These are the views of this author only, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sandboxx.
It does not require great insight for us, as Americans, to realize that we are as hopelessly divided along partisan and ideological lines as perhaps we have ever been in the post-Civil War era. While we struggle with this seemingly insurmountable political strife, we are also simultaneously beset by an epidemic of never-ending gun violence. Feelings of extreme alienation and grievance felt by some amongst us, directed against various manifestations of “the other,” somehow seem only alleviated by acts of mass violence against those understood — however incomprehensibly — as posing some kind of mortal threat to the mass shooters themselves.
How do we overcome these twin illnesses within our society? How do we move toward a civic society where differences do not mean hatred and insurmountable division, but rather, are seen as healthy expressions of civic engagement and as signs of a robust democratic republic? How do we expunge these feelings of extreme alienation, hatred, and paranoia against “the other?”
I would put forward that, given the absence so far of any other effective remedy, and because I assess that the benefit would be significant in and of itself, the solution to these problems is a period of mandatory service for all Americans once they turn 18.
Related: How to write a veteran to civilian resume
Some countries already practice mandatory national service
The idea of mandatory national service is not new or radical. Various countries around the world have one, and the idea has been batted around in America for decades. To be clear, I am not speaking about a military draft, but rather, a period of peacetime military or civil service for all Americans once they turn 18.
Brookings Institution political theorist and public policy scholar, William Galston, made a good case for mandatory service in a 2012 article Citizenship and Civic Attachment: The Case for a Universal Service Lottery.
Galston prefaced his suggested mandatory service program by explaining that “citizenship is increasingly understood as individual liberty without reciprocal responsibility” in America. He coined the term “spectatorial citizenship,” in which the American all-volunteer military force has contributed to a feeling amongst the populace that “good citizens need not be active, but can watch others doing the public’s work on their behalf.”
Galston went on to suggest the creation of a universal term of 18 months of mandatory service for all 18-year-olds who are capable of performing it. They would have a choice of military or full-time civilian service, and would be compensated a reasonable stipend in return. If institutions could not handle the influx of many young people, Galston suggested that a universal lottery could decide who actually served.
This author agrees with Galston that such a program is necessary, and would prove a great benefit to society. However, I would differ with him in suggesting that we should find a way to incorporate all 18-year-olds (with few medical exceptions) between the military, peace corps, local governments, AmeriCorps, and other organizations that might have to be created for the purpose. I believe it is essential for all young people to experience this short period of service if its benefit is to be fully accrued to the entirety of American society.
Related: Lockheed Martin’s Ray Branham is carrying on a family legacy of service
The benefits of universal military service
In terms of how such a program would benefit society, imagine the increased engagement that would occur between Americans of different races, religious creeds, socioeconomic backgrounds, and geographic regions over that 18-month period. American servicemembers people are already exposed to this phenomenon when they join the military. Millions of them can attest to how they met people from all across the country, of all different backgrounds and races, while they served in the U.S. military. I know I can, despite the fact that I served in a unit with far less diversity than in the wider U.S. military.
Such a program would be invaluable in removing our young people from their self-centric, regionally-cloistered, single-ideology fishbowls and exposing them to people, ideas, and backgrounds fundamentally different from their own. In this way, not only will they come to see “the others” as non-threatening, but they will ideally cease seeing them as “the others” at all. That is the end goal: for all of us to appreciate that we are all Americans, despite the differences that too often define us.
Universal military service isn’t the same as a draft
Further, such a program does not need to be, nor should it be, a military-only one. There has to be room for those opposed to military service, or incapable of performing it. Civilian programs that meet this requirement for 18 months of service would offer the same benefits of bestowing a feeling of civic engagement and appreciation for service. This should also not be a military draft, in the sense that the period of service includes being sent to war. In fact, those 18-year-olds should be barred from combat roles of any type, unless they explicitly elect to fully join the U.S. military in lieu of their mandatory service.
Such a prohibition should prevent opposition from those in American society terrified of the prospect of their children being sent to war. The short duration of service should also serve to alleviate concerns that such a period of service will be disruptive to one’s life. The benefit to the individual and society as a whole far outweighs the flawed notion of the fleeting prospect of success that we all feel as young adults. Where such a real prospect does exist — in terms of athletes or others who need to seize on their youth for success — deferments of service to later dates, or shorter lengths of service, should be allowed.
Imagine the benefits that individual young Americans would experience as a result of serving. Not only would we be promoting active and responsible citizenship, but as Galston notes, we would be “expanding mutual awareness across cultural lines.” This kind of exposure would be invaluable in helping us destroy the barriers to constructive engagement that seem to be erected on a daily basis here in the United States.
Related: Why now might be the best time in history to join the military
Besides fostering this cultural exposure and productive dedication to American society and institutions, imagine also the feeling of accomplishment that would be felt by young people at completing their service to the country. This sounds like a trite and quaint notion, but I assure you that it is not. All of us who have served in the U.S. military, as well as in the local, state, or federal government — even the most cynical, grizzled veterans among us — appreciate that we had the opportunity to serve, and did our part for the country.
Finally, at the extreme edge of our society, perhaps if a young 17-year-old man who is barricaded in his mom’s basement and feeding off a diet of hate and militaristic fetishism, were forced out of that basement and given the chance to actually put his energies toward something productive, he might be able to overcome those destructive tendencies and emerge from that abyss of spiraling hate. Nothing else seems to have worked so far to accomplish that goal. A mandatory period of service might just be what America needs.
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No, mandatory military service is NOT a good idea. It is institutional slavery via government. It is unjust, an unnecessary burden upon the poor, costly to the government, and sexist (reverse sexist). This latter point is important because as surveys have shown, the majority of Americans oppose registration and mandatory service for women. We all know that if the draft is reimposed it will fall upon men only (especially those from poor families). Anybody who denies that is kidding themselves.
Ironically, feminists who call for equal rights also demand that women be exempt from the draft. In fact some call for its resurrection for men only. Years ago I knew a feminist who felt all men should get drafted and serve in the military from ages 18 to 30. Women should go to college and get all the jobs requiring a college education. Men to fend for themselves without college education or civilian experience after their service time is up. Any man who refused to serve is to spend time in jail. Like conservative feminist Phyllis Schlafly, she felt women should be free to enjoy a privileged position over men so that her view was hardly unique.
I believe there will soon be more war in Asia and in the Russia border. Because of that you can bet that the male only draft will be resurrected. Say good bye to your boys while your daughters go to college and get enriched. Like it or not, this is going to happen and soon.
The better thing to do is to eliminate selective service, the military industrial complex, and foreign war involvement. No good can come from the draft, from mandatory alternative service, or any form of institutional slavery. It just doesn’t work.
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Seems like a good idea to me if properly handled. This would have to include multiple types of service in many areas other than military. For example example medical, construction, educational and so on. Perhaps seniors in high school could go through a testing and interview process to determine what forms of service they would most fit. Service could be combined with vocational training so that participants would become better workers or students upon completion. With this emphasis on preparation for future endeavors we could involve colleges and employers in the funding so it would not bankrupt the national treasury to fund putting 3 million kids a year to work on societal problems every year. As I mentioned before employers would get trained employees out of their buy in to it. Colleges would get more mature students who have lived outside the parental home and gone through any remedial education before hitting college campuses. More importantly this would be paid service so students would be able to spend less money on student loans. Ideally this would be a monthly stipend plus either an educational grant upon completion of 18 months or something similar like a grant to be used for a home down payment or the procurement of reliable transportation. Completion could also be required to be eligible to vote. Should students have some sort of correctable educational deficiency that would limit participation they could take coursework at a local community College to prepare for service. Service could be deferred in such cases and begun the following year. Obviously many other issues would have to be prepared for. There would need to be accommodation for married participants and for those who are parents as well. Such a massive undertaking could not be one size fits all. It however would have the potential to transform not only the lives of those served but also those doing the serving.
Why this article is unrealistic and I dislike it
The main argument is made by Frumentarius, in the article it states “ I assess that the benefit would be significant in and of itself, the solution to these problems is a period of mandatory service for all Americans once they turn 18.” The author argues that the solution to many problems in the US can be solved by using mandatory service He also writes ”The idea of mandatory national service is not new or radical. Various countries around the world have one.” In this text, Frumentarius argues that mandatory national service is something normal in other places and should not be considered new or radical here in the US and should be used. The article also makes clear that mandatory service is a positive thing and should be put into consideration.
Frumentarius’s work is unnecessary, More specifically I believe that there can be better solutions to those problems instead of mandatory service I don’t know what other solutions are but this one seems a little too complicated and unrealistic they never mention the issues or problems that this would cause. For example, he writes “ Americans of different races, religious creeds, socioeconomic backgrounds, and geographic regions over that 18-month period. American servicemembers people are already exposed to this phenomenon when they join the military.”. I dislike the idea of people meeting this way it could benefit some but might harm others what if a family or religion doesn’t allow this or the parents don’t want their child to go away not everyone is gonna agree on the same thing and some controversy could start I dislike this idea but if something could be changed on this mandatory service I wouldn’t mind it being a thing. Although Frumentarius might say we should have mandatory service for other reasons I still believe that we shouldn’t have mandatory service not only looking at his page on opinion he writes I feel like his opinion is one-sided and delusional and is goofy to believe this would be a thing most of his articles are opinions on war but some are about tv shows and other unrelated things this man has no idea how this change would affect others.
By both statute and common-law tradition, every member of the community capable of assisting in the defense of the community is ALREADY a member of the militia. Militias are organized by the States not by the federal government. The militia act of 1902 split the militia into the “organized militia” (renamed the National Guard) which was paid and equipped by the government, and the unorganized militia which was everybody else. So, the answer is already there. Do not have mandatory federal service. Have mandatory state militia service. Conduct an “initial muster” for everyone to conduct training and orientation. Give them basic weapons training, communications, train on ranks and uniforms and communications, first aid, physical fitness, etc. It could be integrated into required High School curriculum for ages 16-18, followed by a summer camp with more extensive training. Give people the option to enlist in the federal military, the National Guard or remain in the unorganized militia when they reach 18. Do a few additional musters every few years or allow for mobilization of the militia in emergencies. This plan would be feasible, cost-effective and would give young people the benefit of some basic training and the experience of working for a common purpose with people they otherwise would never meet.
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It’s called involuntary servitude and we fought the civil war to end it.
First, the idea that compelled federal service is somehow or other Constitutional and doesn’t infringe on basic rights and freedoms is absurd.
Second, more pragmatically, after 30 years of jumping out of government aircraft for a living and all expenses paid trips to the two way rifle range overseas, the very LAST thing I want as a professional soldier is to be forced to serve beside people being forced to serve beside us. The REMFs In The Rear With The Gear might like the idea, but those on the pointy end of the bayonet do not.
You want somebody to fill in as their parents teaching them to be functional adults? Then go do the job yourself, instead of trying to stick us with it.
Third, the woke military leadership of today is going to correct those who haven’t become responsible adults on their own? You fascist-minded idiots need to stop dreaming in Technicolor.
As a 23 year Veteran, I doubt there are very many qualified young people, especially young men, who will volunteer to serve in a woke, pussified Army or Marine Corps these days where senior leaders lack moral courage and callously disregard the welfare of their younger members (looking at you US Navy….) There is a REASON that recruitment and retention rates have fallen dramatically. Years ago I honestly believed that a tour in any of the Armed Services would be good for building the character and confidence of any young man or woman. I no longer believe that and would no longer recommend serving in a politicized military in the current political environment.
I am a citizen of the United States of America. I am not a serf. I am not at the beck and call of any government and have God given, individual rights. The Constitution was written to prevent the trampling of those rights by an overreaching, control freak government. I find it hard to believe that anyone but a communist would support this. USAR ’83 to ’90.
I don’t disagree with the author but I am not sure how it could actually be implemented. I googled how many kids graduate from high school each year and the most recent dates I found were 2018 – 2019 and the number was 3.7 million. The logistics of training, housing, feeding 3.7 million on top of the new military recruits seems like a nightmare. Too be fair I was Marine infantry so this is not exactly in my wheelhouse but it seems like it would be an expensive clusterf*ck. A lottery would be a better idea but then kids would whine if they did/didn’t get selected. I just did the 4 years and got out but I believe being a Marine was immensely useful. Made me grow up for sure.
You’d have to send the kids in batches, you couldn’t all at once. You’d then run into the problem of kids being halfway through their 1st college semester, or their 2nd (“but I have finals next week!”). They could be in an apprenticeship for plumbing, can’t just leave that for a year and hope you get taken back. Then of course you might run into the college athletes, some poor E-7 at the MEPs is going to get a call from the governor of Oklahoma, “yeah we play Texas this Saturday, Steve Jones will not be missing that game or leaving for bootcamp Friday night, he already has 800 rushing yards on the year.” You start carving out exceptions and you soon find everyone qualifies for an exception.
Other countries have done that “conscripts don’t go into battle” thing. I vehemently disagree the US Armed Forces should follow suit. A rifleman is a rifleman is a rifleman, all are equal. If you are old enough to vote, buy a gun and drink alcohol legally you have benefited enough from American protection to be prepared to give up your life when your country calls.
Also, the Conscientious Objector Corps must be kept small and exclusive as it has always been in the US. You do know the US imprisoned twice as many Jehovah’s Witnesses as Germany did in the ’30s and ’40s and for the same reason, right? No draftee should be allowed to harbor the notion there is an easy way out of combat.
There is no arguing with your most important point: The draft is the Great Leveler.
The best policy move the military ever accepted was to stop relying on the draft. Among the best effects were that military stockades emptied and competency standards for all personnel increased exponentially. Anyone who wants to go back to the bad old days is an idiot.
I absolutely agree that a period of national service should be mandatory for all 18 year olds. There could be any number of service opportunities other than military although I firmly believe military service is the best to provide youth with a well strong, healthy rounded experience. At 18 it’s time to take off the diapers and training wheels and learn to become productive adults. Me and my three brothers are good examples.
This is mandatory servitude. Read the damn constitution! Check yourself! Your anti freedom. Big Gov writ large assuming controlling young lives is acceptable by a corrupt incompetent Government that’s screwed everything up.
So Gary, tell us about what you have contributed to our country.
Yeah, Gary. tell us what you have contributed to the Republic. Are you a civil servant? Do you have a military service record? Are you an EMT Tech? How about the fire department? Tell us how you have made the society better, except by mouthing off?
Does contributing to the republic require putting on a uniform? Do you believe that people who have not served are somehow not as good as you are? I served for 18 years because my father served in the Navy. I moved every 3 years and had a father be absent for most of my formative years because sea duty takes lots of time out of a father’s life. My father is a Vietnam Veteran who would tell YOU that he is glad his son didn’t serve. He served so I wouldn’t have to. But you keep being a jerk about “making society” better without having an effing clue what that means.
The idea that there is a short list of things that “make society better” (btw, war doesn’t make ANY society better, bub) is insulting and I hate to break it to you, but the Founders didn’t hold your view of a standing army.
Someone being a good father…. paying his taxes so that YOU could get paid…. making sure his children grow up respecting the Constitution, even perhaps giving people jobs as he runs his own business is ALSO some things that make society better. There are thousands of idiots who wore camo and carried a gun who have NOT made society better. Don’t be a keyboard warrior, retiree. People like Gary and I pay your salary through working at a job that pays taxes so YOU get a check.
Want us to stop? Or would that be “making society worse”, you arrogant jerk.
Do not conflate military service (potential use of deadly force) with public service (…who knows).
Nobody should be in the military unless they want to be, save DRAFT in times of true national emergency.
I have felt for many years that there should be a requirement for all citizens to serve our country in some capacity. We could have a voluntary military cadre of more experienced, higher paid veterans to train them, and lead them in the event of a war. This would provide the opportunity for diversity and responsibility that are sorely needed today. It could also provide the need for an army that may be useful in the future.
Tying service to voting rights, and running for political office, sounds like a great idea. We would have less combat fatalities, and societies torn apart, if political leaders had sons and daughters who could not be withheld from danger.
This is fascist thinking. Read the Constitution.
No, it isn’t fascist. It is a way for each and every person to contribute to society. It is a way to learn valuable life skills. It is a way to work with a diverse population. It is a way to understand the importance of building teams so that their product is more than just the sum of the parts. It is a way to engage with team mates who are different than you and to learn their perspectives of our various cultures. Tie service to the voting privilege also instills an obligation to vote responsibly’ to learn the character and perspectives of the candidates you vote for. Measuring them to your own, better defined value system. You don’t have to be a soldier, you just have to make some contribution to your civilization. What’s so wrong about that?
Well, the author was in the CIA, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.
Those monsters view the Constitution as a “Quaint Document”. They’re nothing but thugs with badges, typical Totalitarians.
To RCO 1SG, US Army Ret,
Your entire statement honestly sounds remarkably similar to Mein Kampf, which is honestly an important and fascinating read. I recommend that you read it, as well as read Ayn Rand’s works, and Carl Jungs’ “The Undiscovered Self”, so you can better grasp the meaning behind “Collectivism”….which is Exactly what you are supporting with your entire statement, whether you know it or not.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I fear we’re already too far down that road to avoid the global cataclysm that’s to come–but IF it CAN be avoided at all, it is to be accomplished through the Individual and NOT collectivism.
Universal Service is a great idea, and one that occurred to me after completing Navy boot camp in ’63. It was such a growing and maturing experience I thought everyone should do it. However, the people who most need this sort of thing are the very ones who would be exempted from it, as illustrated by the draft of that period. In addition, there is a danger that a Universal Service plan could water down the ranks of the military with a bunch of social misfits who are just there to fulfill an obligation. So, although it’s a good idea, I can’t see how it would work in the US.
It will always be a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight. The wealthy will always find a way out of service.
This always annoys me. The military is mostly middle and upper middle class kids.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military
There’s a handy chart in that article that wouldn’t copy and paste, you can find it if you want but the jist of the article and the chart is stated below.
“Middle Class Overrepresented Among Recruits”
To enter the military, it presently mandates everyone take the COVID-19 shot. Because we all have that choice, service cannot be mandatory.
Very interesting point. But if society were to be structured in the fascist design as the author intended, then there would be no choice involved in any direction. People would simply be injected, chipped, tagged, etc, and thrown in with the rest of the assimilated borg drones. Or put in prison for not complying willingly….also not alien to the history of government cancer. For instance…everyone is currently subjected to Taxation without Representation. If anyone simply refuses to pay tribute to the ‘overlords’, there’s no respect of principle or choice or liberty there, whatsoever. The goons will simply throw you in a cage.
Freedom is a long-lost dream of another time. The only real solution is a new revolution where corrupt government goons are reminded of their mortality when the citizens rise up, become completely ungovernable, and put the majority of the rancid government scum in mass-graves. It’s either forcibly re-asserting our liberty as Americans, or sleep-walk like zombies into this article’s author’s glorious envisioned future of abject serfdom for some sort of globalized ‘1000 Year Reich”.
Now, cue the responses from the imbeciles who think they’re part of some sort of priesthood called ‘civil service’ when all they really are a part of is a group of hired thugs who work for criminals and will literally do whatever said criminals command.
Universal service is an utter waste. Nobody becomes a proficient warrior in a year or even two, and such a system saps dollars which could better be spent on those with an actual desire to serve and defend, and more likely to serve more than a single tour.
I’ve given that a lot of thought, it started way back in the mid 1990s when I was Chief of NCO Future for TRADOC, while on active duty and later as a civil servant. You are right that it costs dollars that might otherwise be spent on more warrior type training. However, the resulting change in society just might be worth it. Veterans understand the value of service. Some of these kids will get it and become a professional soldier, engineer, transportation chief, medical specialist, etc. Those then also become the types of skill sets we’ll need in an emergency. They’ll understand team building. They’ll understand mission accomplishment. For combat, I want well trained, well equipped warriors. Some of those kid will be part of that cohort.
This is an argument for government slavery. China would be proud.
Indeed, well said.
While a great idea on paper not in reality. Although not well documented the problems caused by the draft aren’t worth it, endangering those committed to the cause. Ask those who served (in addition to me), their stories will change your mind
Okay geniuses, now pay for it. Case closed.
The government has literally stolen your great-grandchildren’s wealth through endless currency manipulation and un-realizable promises to untold multitudes.
The criminals in the ‘neo-aristocracy’ would find a way to ‘pay’ for it if it got them the slaves they wanted.
I agree with Chief K, this would be abused. I would be more agreeable to see individuals, that aren’t going to college, to a trade school. Our schools should be changed back to teach more of a United States at all ages.
The college idiots are the ones who most need a dose of reality. Trade schoolers and no schoolers already know the score.
Can’t argue with this in the slightest.
So there isn’t an intelligent thought in your head?????
What a waste.
Frumentarius,
I agree with you about the benefits of universal national service..in fact, I would tie such service to “earning the right to vote”….I would suggest a constitutional amendment that requires a short term of national service (military or civilian) to earn the right to vote in federal elections or run for federal offices (states could set the voter eligibility requirements however they want for state offices)…in other words, to be full citizen you’d need to put some “skin in the game”…and it might produce a more educated, involved electorate (and slates of candidates)….As it is now, the only requirement for voting is being squeezed out of a birth canal in a particular geographic location, which seems a pretty low bar.
You’ve been reading Robert Heinlein haven’t you Kent? Straight out of Starship Troopers.
Solid logic. All the way around. However I resist the notion of American citizens being forced by the government to do something, particularly giving up a year and half of their life. As we’ve seen over the past few years, sometimes the government is all too quick to use force to make citizens “do the right thing”, and then turns out to be wrong. The arguments sound good, but universal service would be a dangerous precedent, and I simply do not trust the federal government not to abuse it.
No one would be “forced” to do anything….it would be quite simple….if you want to vote, if you want to be a full citizen, if you desire to have the opportunity to run for federal office, ….volunteer for a term of national service (military or civilian)…I just don’t see why that’s coercive at all. As it is now, there is no requirement for citizenship except being born in a particular geographic location…which seems a pretty low bar. If you are so terrified of the federal government abusing its power…the idea of national service would restore (or strengthen) the idea that is really is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”….people who have demonstrated a commitment to the country…not just a bunch of anti-government-what’s-in- it-for-me anyway types (never see the anti-government folks turning down Medicare or not cashing there social security checks)….I really do think that a constitutional amendment requiring national service for national voting rights is about the only way to get out of this insane partisan stasis that we are increasingly finding ourselves in.
Yep. Heinlein made service not only voluntary, but GUARANTEED to be miserable. That would weed out almost every leftist right there.
Ah, a Heinlein fan!