Thread: Dedovschina and brain drain

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Yep, I know it. But many of present democratic countries formerly used to burn people for their opinions. I think we need to move on sometimes, and the humanity has outgrown such things as "draft".

First you need to
1) Organise world peace and achieve stability at all borders
2) Find out a way of convincing leaders of all countries that there is not going to be any more war against their country.

May I suggest that you start by campaigning for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. As an American voter and citizen that's an area where you might be able to make a small difference. Next, campaign for the US withdraw it's bases from places like Korea and Europe. Next, try to find a solution to the Israel question... Putting missiles anywhere along the border of Russia is definitely not a good way to make them feel that it's safe to reduce the army. But right now that is what the US is proposing.

If you can tackle all those problems. then after that you can raise the question of dropping conscription again.

Originally Posted by Hanna

First you need to
1) Organise world peace and achieve stability at all borders
2) Find out a way of convincing leaders of all countries that there is not going to be any more war against their country.

May I suggest that you start by campaigning for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. As an American voter and citizen that's an area where you might be able to make a small difference. Next, campaign for the US withdraw it's bases from places like Korea and Europe. Next, try to find a solution to the Israel question... Putting missiles anywhere along the border of Russia is definitely not a good way to make them feel that it's safe to reduce the army. But right now that is what the US is proposing.

If you can tackle all those problems. then after that you can raise the question of dropping conscription again.

Just in case I would remind you that I'm not against the army per se, I agree almost every country needs it. I'm against conscription and I believe the army should be professional and consist of those who wish to serve. Forcing someone to serve in the army against his will is a torture for both the man and the army (at the respective scale). Having no wish to serve, the man will only aim to get away from his service and get out of the army as soon as possible. Just imagine, for instance, what that would look like, if everyone was forced to become a doctor for a year. I guess hospitals would drown in patients' suits.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Just imagine, for instance, what that would look like, if everyone was forced to become a doctor for a year. I guess hospitals would drown in patients' suits.

The analogy is not exactly right. It's more like forcing everyone to take medical training for a year, in case we'll need a lot of doctors in future. Most of these guys don't do anything useful or potentially harmful (like protecting the borders or guarding arsenals), and a lot of regiments are based in the cities, so they just learn military-related stuff.

There are a few sad exceptions, though, when recruits had to paticipate in real action (Afganistan, Chechnya). I don't know about Chechnya, but with Afganistan these 18-19 year olds didn't even know they were going to war, until they got there.