I would serve and try to do so with honor.....call me old fashioned, but I think that sort of thing should not have been abused and then removed
because of said abuse...
it builds character and gives people not sure what their next step is in life important skills they could use anyways..
It would also end the misconceptions people have about the military, and give them all a little bit of peace knowing what it is really like..
Also I imagine that having the actual population reflected in the armed forces would bring the level of dumbass-ness down to civilian levels.....too
many hot heads that consider it a subculture to be a civilian....
BRING IT BACK....and don't ABUSE IT FOR PROFIT.....that way your country wont suck so much or resent the fact that you made them into cash cows
alternatively....
then we all have valid reason to choose what to do with our arsenal....we would make it to command and not have a few select military families carry
the burden....and the liability...on their shoulders..
EDIT:
I would go so far as to have one year required service.....for all citizens....no matter what..
You can't fight, then can you think? then sat com or whatever....We are all useful. The military can be a means of improving our education and
returning the balance of power back to the people, and similarly give our leaders less to "bitch" about us....
I advocate this all the time....1 year mandatory service with exceptions only in what role to serve in.
also....imagine leaders that actually KNEW the real price of war.....they wouldn't throw fighting words around all the time since their own children
and even they themselves would pay the price alongside us....no service...no political career...no sending our kids to die for profit....their kids
would be sacrificing alongside ours...even they themselves..
I would love to see a president stay for a long haul on the front line for a war he plans and decides on....bring back the warrior leader that only
used war to defend his people and not as a tool to achieve political and economic success.
It would fix allot more problems we have than most people think.
Eisenhower:
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity"
edit on 6-8-2012 by BIHOTZ because: (no reason given)