If I were creating a country nowadays I would probably have everyone serve mandatory military service. I mean, it’s a smart move, right? Think about it. If everyone above a certain age has served, the entire country has common ground, a shared traumatic experience. It builds a strong sense of trust, loyalty and nationalism. It makes it very difficult for anyone to get in an argument at a bar. Like, for example, if a paratrooper in the IDF says something like “I jump out of planes to arrest Arabs- all arabs rape white women,” and a young American girl should try to explain to said paratrooper how this could be a very problematic thing to say, IDF soldiers swoop in from all sides to defend their comrade. Perhaps they have never met, but they share an identity, a struggle, and partners in arms have to stick together.
On a related note, I have learned a lot about the process of getting out of the military. If you are depressed or have serious health issues you can get out, but it is a long and difficult process. There is also a massive stigma that goes along with it and it can have social implications for the rest of your life. As I said above, the shared experience of military service is a great way to make friends. “Where did you serve?” is often the first question asked and a quick conversation starter. Its also the first question asked at job interviews, and if your resume says you didn’t finish your military service, potential employers will want to know why. Not only does it reflect on your health and mental stability, you are looked at as a deserter, a pussycat that wimped out and left the rest of your peers to carry your weight.
-Marjorie
Comment Post Week 07/31 – Disagree
Marjorie, you would make a very bad statesman if you enforced conscription without considering whether the benefits outweigh the costs. Military draft is economically inefficient and takes a lot of toll on the tax payers. Also, it’s not so much the military draft as in the collective memory of the past wars that make Israelis have a strong bond to each other and to their country.
However, conscription is a very good way to collect human resource at a time of war. Secondly, some countries face existential threats: e.g. Israel and South Korea. I think both face potential enemies that also enforce military draft. By security dilemma, these two countries would be better off if they enforce conscription than if they did not. Switzerland enforces military draft because of its armed neutrality policy; even its membership in UN in 2002 came through bottom-up decision by referendum rather than top-down decision.
Also, aren’t employers being rational when they discriminate those who did not finish military service? Consider yourself in the employer’s position. You’re facing a potential employee and find out he/she did not finish his/her military service. There is a lot of missing information. Is this person mentally unstable, a troublemaker? Is he or she incapable of working in team? Thus, under this limited information, you as a rational, information-seeking decision maker have to rely on stereotypes. It’s the responsibility of the employee to inform the employer why he or she doesn’t fit the stereotype.
–Asako