Military Conscription (Persuasive Essay)

Military Conscription

Conscription, or more boldly the draft, has not been in place for some thirty years. While some people cringe at the thought of reinstating the draft, others have different views. This short paper will speak of those different views and the reasons why conscription of military service may not be such a bad idea after all.

Having young men or even women drafted in the military would benefit everyone. The soldiers would benefit from gaining the knowledge and on-the-job training for a career when they get out and the militaries would not be suffering from the shortage of troops as they are today. It is a win-win situation!

Having served in a country where conscription is the law (and still is today), most South Koreans "see military service as a sacred duty of manhood" (Choe, 2003, para. 6). South Korean males, between the ages of 18 to 28, are required to serve some type of military service for a minimum of 26 months (Amnesty International, 2003). I have met several of those young men who were honored to be serving their country. Of course, I have met other young men who saw their time in the service as a waste; an impediment of their aspired launching careers. However, faced with the strict fines of imprisonment for three years or longer, serving time in the military doesn't sound like a bad alternative (Amnesty International, 2003).

The U.S. Army draft was abolished in 1973 and became an all-volunteer Army. People believed the draft was unfair because it mainly targeted less fortunate males of society; men who were not financially fortunate enough to qualify for a deferment for being a full-time college student (Gill, 2007). If a draft were reinstated today, a lottery-style selection process would be fairer. However, the fairest way would be to make it a requirement for everyone to join the military and serve a term of duty. Granted, there would still have to be exceptions to the rule. For instance, a person could be deferred for medical reasons.

Imagine for a moment, having a six wonderful kids. Each child has dreams of becoming an astronaut, a mechanical engineer, a computer programmer, a physics teacher, a jet pilot, and an architect. You as the parent know you cannot afford to send all the children to college. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to secure your children's future? If it were a requirement for men and women to join a branch of the Armed Forces upon graduating from high school, their dreams could become reality! Young people could receive training and money to go to college and fulfill those dreams. If the draft were reinstated there would be more troops to support the current crisis in Iraq. There would also be less turn around of the same troops redeploying to remote parts of the world. Many soldiers are gone from their families for a year, only to return to remote parts of the world after being home for a few months.

Think also, the possibility of forcing young criminals between the ages of 18 and 25 to join