...To Conscript, or not to Conscript Enter student name here Enter school name here Abstract The question on whether the United States military should be based on a conscription style of enlistment has been debated for many years. The US has had several instances where conscription, or “draft” as it was referred to a few times, was enacted to supplement troop numbers during a period of conflict. Some proponents for conscription believe it would be a benefit to the military, where others believe it would cause more problems than it solved. This paper discusses some of the pro's and con's of conscription and discusses whether or not this is a good thing for the country or whether some sort of “modified” version of it would be more palatable and effective. Perhaps the “if it's not broken don't fix it” adage applies here. To Conscript, or not to Conscript How would you feel if it were mandatory for you to serve in the United States military? Would you have an issue with it or simply feel it was your patriotic duty? Many people across the country believe that the armed forces should have a conscription service enacted to require citizens 18 years old and up to serve (for a specific time, opinions vary) vice the voluntary system used today. This is largely due to people thinking today's youth need to feel ownership in their country and to know what it's like to have to defend our principles and way of life. Basically...
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...Rick Warren once said, “...Military service, they don't call it service for nothing. You are actually serving your country. And it is a worthy and valid vocation.” Even though not all people want to serve in the military, the federal service bill must be passed because military service offers invaluable experiences, and it would increase the overall strength of the military. In this essay, I will show that the federal service bill will be beneficial to our country. First, working in the army gives you important training lessons for life. According to, Kaarel Slim, who was once a team doctor in the military, said that “...I have been forced to experience a lot of new things that would have been impossible at home. Because of my time in service...
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...Everyone seems to have at least one friend that appears to have gone nowhere after high school. I believe it is time that we try something new to motivate kids into preparing themselves for life after high school. I would propose that after graduating, they would have an option; either go to a college or enlist in the military for a mandatory three years. There are many reasons why kids may not be able to go to college, but that should not give them an excuse to live their lives paycheck to paycheck without planning for their future. I believe the military is the perfect solution for this behavior. Money is always an issue with kids graduating high school and many can’t afford a four year university. Maybe the graduating student did not have the discipline or motivation to apply his/her self while the chance was there and now they are having a tough time getting accepted to a school. There is also the fact that many high school graduates have not decided what they want to do with their lives. In the following paper I will explain how the military can fix any of these problems. It is not cheap to go to a well known four year university, and even if one gets a loan, he/she would be paying it off for a long while after graduation. This could be a big reason some students graduating from high school do not attend college. Joining any military service would be an easy way to get anyone financially stable. After three years in, and most likely at least one deployment, one could have...
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...(Olson-Raymer, par. 48-50). When the United States invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Americans voluntarily enlisted (par. 55). Despite the abundance of soldiers, military personnel claimed that there was a shortage of soldiers, and a draft would benefit the war effort (Thompson and Zabriskie, par. 7). Fortunately, the draft was not enacted and still remains...
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...In some countries every young person must serve two years of military service. Today, some have proposed that the United States should have a similar policy. Nobody should be obligated to do something that they are not willing to help with. I believe that military service is a voluntary action, citizens that want to help their country actually do this, but if it is mandatory, it will not only interfere with people’s life plans but make their lives kind of miserable. Military service has to remain as an option. If every young person is assigned in two years of military service it’s going to be a chaos. It takes a lot of time to properly prepare the citizens that are going to be in the military to defend the country. Some people are not even...
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...Marcelino I. Lake Self-Evaluation Paper PHI 210 Prof. Davenport 11/26/2011 “Should high school graduates receive free education for mandatory military service?” My topic is should high school graduates received free education based on two or four of military service? Some people believe all high school graduates should be required to serve a minimum of two years in any branch of the military. All veterans should receive some sort of educational assistance. Their educational benefits should be based on years of service, job duties and if they were in a combat zone or participated in an area were combat was imminent but war wasn’t declared. Some people believe in freedom of choice and individuals shouldn’t be forced to join the armed services if they don’t wish to. Some veterans don’t feel free education shouldn’t be contingent on mandatory service; others see no problem with it especially in today current climate. I believe all high school graduates should serve...
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...valued by the institution of the military? The gender norms that are reinforced and valued by the institution of the Armed Forces depends upon the service that you are in. Unbelievably certain Departments have different level of masculinity and history than plays into these the gender norms that are reinforced throughout the Armed Forces. Even with recent interjections of women into closed ground combat union. Things seem to be still angled at men run the military. You may have onesies and twos but there it will be awhile before you have a full forced all woman combat team. Not because they cannot because of the stereotype that none are out there. In Chapter 8 you read about how social institutions can reinforce traditional conceptions of gender even if the people involved in those institutions want to change them. In what ways does the institution of the military reinforce traditional notions of masculinity and femininity outside of the individual soldiers?...
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...Can Women Serve In Combat? The Military Leadership Diversity Commission is recommending that the Pentagon do away with a policy that bans women from serving in combat units, breathing new life into a debate that really should never have developed in the first place. Let’s take a look at the reasons for the current ban, and the reasons why some may be trying to lift the ban that keeps women from serving in direct combat roles. First, Let Me Be Clear Let me be clear in efforts to head off any “you hate women” ignorance. This article is not about whether women should be allowed to serve in the military in general. This is specifically about why I personally believe women (female or trans-gendered) should not be allowed to, forced into, pressured, or even given the option to serve in direct combat roles such as Infantry, Sniper, Special Forces, Recon, Ranger, SEAL, Combat Diver, or Delta units. In my opinion, this is a common sense issue… but to no surprise, the “well-educated” people that have done studies and compiled reports commissioned by the government seem to be incapable of utilizing a commodity such as common sense. And trust me, I have seen many women, especially in the Marine Corps, that were highly capable, willing and able to serve in infantry and combat-related roles. There’s more to it than that. Reasons Why Women Should Not Serve In Direct Combat Roles Strength, equality, logistics, safety and emotions are a few main areas that I would like to discuss...
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...A fifteen year old boy was on trial at Guantanamo, a cruel military prison where its prisoners are treated harshly. The boy had been abused and brainwashed in the Middle East, as his home was on a battlefield. After experiencing a heated discussion, he illegally threw a grenade, killing few participating in the argument. His name was Omar Khadr, a child soldier. In some parts of the world, such as the Middle East, there is tremendous dispute over child soldiers. Child soldiers join the military and are valuable assets, as their minds can be easily intimidated. Child soldiers can be as young as eight, and they serve in government forces. They fight in the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and can act as spies, messengers, or lookouts....
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...endeavor, the choice should 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! It has to be a part of who you are, what you stand for and your ability to see beyond your own need. Compelling someone to serve, as in the military draft(conscription), is a non effective notion that will not guarantee the strength and quality of its military and further divides us, as a nation. There exists examples of what conscription can do to a nation from the Vietnam War/Conflict. People chose to leave their country, casting off all that they knew and loved instead of serving in the military. Anti Draft and Anti War demonstrations were everywhere, chaos. Citizens faced prison time and were ostracized because of their refusal to serve and their views against the draft and war. A matter of Patriotism can not be governed by politicians and gauged by others who have different views from yours – it should be left up to the individual. There is no evidence to prove that because of the draft, we were a fighting force to be reckoned with or we had the most proficient fighting Soldiers in history, or that the cost of the war was less expensive. There is, however, more evidence to prove the contrary. If someone wishes to serve their country, there have been various programs to do this in lieu of joining the military. Yet, these programs are underfunded and less advertised than service to the military. It seemingly forces...
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...“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America... and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (Bellamy). The pledge of Allegiance is what almost every student in the nation recites or had recited every morning from the day they start school till the day they graduate, but why is it that we don’t truly mean what we say? The adults now that have formed rules such as “Don’t ask don’t tell” and that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military once said the pledge, and should definitely know what it stands for, so why do these rules not give us equality and justice for all? I believe that liberty is an intrinsic part of the individual; members of society can ensure liberty through government protection from the moment they are born or become a citizen of a country and obtain the individual guaranteed rights. Liberty has been defined as the condition of a society in which individuals can be free ‘politically’ and free to develop as individuals. For stable individual liberty to be maintained, the people must have oversight and control of the...
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...On January 27, 1973 the U.S. military draft ended, which meant that when you turned 18, as a male, you didn’t have to go fight in war. The draft is like a giant pool that males had to enter so in case our military needed extra help they would use the draft guys to help. The only problem with the draft was that if you had a medical issue then it wasn’t likely that you would be able to serve in the military. My father graduated two years after the draft ended. He was planning on going into the draft, but he tore two ligaments in his knee, which meant that he couldn’t go. On the other hand, the draft helped when America went to fight Vietnam because we were shorthanded. If the draft was reinstated there would be a lot of people that didn’t want to be there that were forced, people with a bad work ethic that would be trained, and with having an army that is trained to protect America we could really do some damage....
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...Dear Attorney General Sessions, I write to you on the account of Bowe Bergdahl. I am here to ask you to not prosecute Bergdahl. Im asking you to choose a side between humanity and legality. Part of what makes us human is the ability to say the word, “no”. In bees, the worker bees are worked to their ultimate doom. In humans however, we have said “no” to these conditions and changed them. I am asking you to side with humanity, to say no, and to not prosecute Bergdahl. Bergdahl has suffered and been punished enough. His suffering of being tortured, in a cell, being beaten, in a cell, and being neglected, in a cell, among other things. At what point in humanity can we say that enough is enough, and that he has suffered too much. My case for...
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...Critical Thinking HU345-02 Unit 9 Final Project Gays in the Military Diana Brown Professor RonaldDean Davenport Kaplan University Gays in the Military The United States has been faced with different debates. Gays in the military has been one of the strongest political debates since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy started almost two decades ago. A majority of democrats wanted to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces, and the republicans completely opposed; they wanted to keep this policy, solely to ban gays from serving openly in the military. The policy completely prohibited homosexuals from serving in the military; if it was any suspicion of a person being homosexual, regardless if they were or not engaging in homosexual conduct, they were put under investigation; if it was determine that the person in fact was homosexual, they were immediately discharged. This was not only unfair, but discriminatory and at the same time unconstitutional. It is hard to understand how they got away with this for so long; this simply did not make any sense. For some Congress’ members and military officials the fear was that by allowing gays to serve openly in the military could cause more casualties and would endangered the troops.. In an interview with newspapers and wire service reporters at the Pentagon, Gen. James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps at the time said: "you don't want anything distracting. . . . Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost...
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...Gwyneth McKenna Military History 4/28/2015 Evolution of Compulsory Service The United States has long been involved in military affairs spanning several centuries. These endeavors require more than simply the machinery, tactical prowess, and financial support. They require manpower. Manpower is the backbone to any and every military operation throughout history. Unfortunately, the United States has not always had the amount of brave soldiers she needs to keep the enemy at bay. In order to combat this lack of manpower, conscription, more commonly known as “the draft”, has been needed to be employed. The military draft is a controversial topic; Serving one’s country is undeniably honorable, but what if it is not a choice? Should you be forced...
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