conscription and selective service

[tackattack]

so to sum it up carve, you think we should
a. mistreat all military to deter people from enlisting
b. punish military who risked their lives for you to spew this hate speech as war criminals

Yeah I tend to agree, we're definitely not on the same page thank goodness.

[The Grand Nudger]

Don't you think it might be important for them to have..you know, actually committed war crimes?   Just a thought.

No. I think they should be treated unfairly to deter young people from enlisting

-and if we threw randos in the gulag on sham charges that might stop people from actually committing those crimes!  Or, you know..not, we would just be committing a crime ourselves.

Truth is, joes already are treated unfairly in many respects, for largely the same reason. All are punished for the misdeeds of one to create unit cohesion and in that this draconian approach is thought to deter further instances of that act. Though we tend to draw a line when it comes to criminal infractions...not that we won't punish the whole unit for failing to prevent one of the members from committing a crime, we just don't charge them all with the crime itself.

Allow me to suggest that there are less horrid and more cogent ways to deter enlistment, if that's the aim. Many of them would have the effect of preventing actual warcrimes, lol. The service is moving in those directions anyway, as we've realized that, in future, wars will be fought with fewer people who need more training in areas that require a hell of alot more discernment than the open fields of ww2 or the dense jungles of vietnam.

A smaller force of smarter people with better gear and a constant care for the ramifications of their actions in an apartment block. Perhaps we should cut the size of our military and increase the pay of those who remain or can qualify at a higher standard. -but im biased, so...some pebble headed marine might disagree.

[tackattack]

I'm no marine but I agree

[Fireball]

No. I think they should be treated unfairly to deter young people from enlisting

-and if we threw randos in the gulag on sham charges that might stop people from actually committing those crimes!  Or, you know..not, we would just be committing a crime ourselves.

Truth is, joes already are treated unfairly in many respects, for largely the same reason.  All are punished for the misdeeds of one to create unit cohesion and in that this draconian approach is thought to deter further instances of that act.  Though we tend to draw a line when it comes to criminal infractions...not that we won't punish the whole unit for failing to prevent one of the members from committing a crime, we just don't charge them all with the crime itself.

Allow me to suggest that there are less horrid and more cogent ways to deter enlistment, if that's the aim.  Many of them would have the effect of preventing actual warcrimes, lol.  The service is moving in those directions anyway, as we've realized that, in future, wars will be fought with fewer people who need more training in areas that require a hell of alot more discernment than the open fields of ww2 or the dense jungles of vietnam.

A smaller force of smarter people with better gear and a constant care for the ramifications of their actions in an apartment block.  Perhaps we should cut the size of our military and increase the pay of those who remain or can qualify at a higher standard. -but im biased, so...some pebble headed marine might disagree.  

SEALS come to mind. I'm sure the other branches something similar. Are the days of enfilade fire approaching an end?

[Mister Agenda]

Military conscription would violate the UN Declaration of Human Rights as I understand it as it is a form of involuntary servitude. I am largely in agreement with that declaration. Voluntary service has been entirely adequate for decades. There are issues with it, but it's not broken in a way that forcing people to serve would be the best solution. Having a draft didn't result in the rich being equally drawn on to serve (see out current POTUS). Would the draft be so universal that it would bring in those currently considered unqualified or unfit to serve? I don't think that would make our military better. I doubt that there's a lot of savings in equipping, paying, and training an army of the unwilling.

In my opinion, not only should we not reinstate conscription, we should abolish it. Much of the developed world has already done so.

[Minimalist]

The Army Times seems to have some doubts.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army...ill-ranks/

Army using drug waivers, bonuses to fill ranks

The data shows that the Army has increasingly brought in recruits that need conduct or drug waivers. In 2016, nearly 19 percent of the waivers were for drug use and conduct, In 2017 that grew to almost 25 percent, and for the first half of 2018 it exceeded 30 percent.

Those totals far exceed the other three services. According to the Pentagon data, the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force did not approve any waivers for drug use in the last three years. And their use of conduct waivers is significantly less than the Army - hovering between 2-13 percent of all the waivers they approve, depending on the service.

[The Grand Nudger]

According to data obtained by The Associated Press, nearly one-third of all the  in the first six months of this fiscal year were for conduct and drug problems, mainly involving marijuana use.

They're gonna need to smoke some dro after they serve anyway, what with the state of the VA. Those bonuses, btw, aint going to groundpounders. They're using them to attract people who can make a shitload more money doing whatever it is they do outside of the service than in..which the service desperately needs. Just so happens that there's a preponderance of tokers in the set of college grads with useful knowledge, too.