Reply #75: that is not a bad idea

[whopis01]

I have never been in favor of required military service. Mainly from the point of view of cost vs. quality. It takes a lot of money to train a soldier, and if entering service were a requirement, there would be a huge increase in the percentage of people who served for the minimum amount of time possible.

However, to open it to other areas could be more beneficial. After all, there are plenty of people who would never seek a career in the military who would be happy to make a career out of other forms of national service.

Reminds me of Heinlein's concept of requiring military service to be a full citizen and earn the right to vote. Perhaps requiring national service before vesting those rights would be a good step.