Military power has always been the key factor in maintaining authority since the early ages. The man with the largest army has always reached great heights and this it has been hardwired into people’s brains that having a large army is a must to ensure the safety of the citizens of a country. This has led to many countries making military service mandatory for youngsters mostly in the age group of 18-30 years. This age is the prime age for them as they would have just reached adulthood and are being forced to join the military. There are usually two ways to look at it, one way is justifying that it increases the patriotism within the citizens along with the satisfaction that they have done their part for their motherland, but at the other end of the spectrum we can look at it as a violation of the right to freedom of the citizens and this results in the return of the age- old question of how many personnel and weapons make up a strong army.
Patriotism shouldn’t be forced on any individual, instead a country should make him develop the feeling on their own which will result in a much stronger bond of that individual with the country. Joining the army and serving the nation is not the only way a person can show love to his/her country, instead they can also show their love and respect to their country in various other fields like science, literature, infrastructure, etc. Usually, individuals who are forced to join the army lower the morale of the troops as they have no intention of being there, which results in their as well as their squad’s underperformance. Also, one cannot develop patriotism by just joining the army and that too in a year, they must get that feeling at an early age and it is mostly based of what amenities and freedoms the country is providing for the individual.
We cannot ignore the fact that this will help a lot of poor and underprivileged individuals to secure a stable job and thus help their family get out of poverty. A country needs all kinds of talent to grow as a whole and making their most productive people waste a year or two in the army is only hindering them from achieving success. Many may argue that its just a year or two of their life what greatness can they achieve in just a year, but think about sportspersons, various artists or anybody whose age is the most important part of their career, they might be at their peak during that time, they might be getting great offers, in fact they are bringing wealth into the country, but they cannot achieve it when they are at their peak because they have to join the army. Another point that we can add to this is the fact that the horrors of a conflict can cause a lot of permanent mental trauma to an individual and it is really difficult for a young person to lead a proper and healthy like if he suffers from PTSD when most guys of his age in other countries are just graduating college, again this is not the case of everybody but just a small number of individuals in the military.
There are around 28 countries across the planet where military service is mandatory, some of the most famous ones include almost all Ex-Soviet countries, Egypt, Israel and many more. There are many people that do not want to serve in the army or risk their lives, this does not mean that they do not love their country, its just that they do not want to risk their lives and there is nothing wrong in this because almost all constitutions state that the citizens hold a right to life and by making military service mandatory, they are taking it away from them. If the citizen wants to serve in the armed forces by choice, then they have to be allowed to do so because they are willing to serve the country and risk their lives, in fact if they draft only willing people then the morale in the army will also be a thousand times better than the morale of an army where most of them don’t want to serve.
A few years ago, Switzerland held a referendum on the validity of military conscription and a majority of them agreed for this to be a part of their country by stating that although Switzerland is a neutral country, they have always been caught in the crossfires and thus having a small army is always helpful in order to maintain and fortify their borders if and when the time comes. There are many exceptions provided by various nations for individuals to skip conscription that mainly includes cases like a medical condition, physical disability and some cases like that of South Korea where winning a gold medal in either the Asian games or Olympics or being a qualified and a well renowned artist will get you out of the conscription list ,but on the other hand, most of these countries don’t allow individuals who pursue higher education have to eventually come back and serve in the army before the age of thirty, and if they fail to do so, they will be tried in court for “Avoiding national duty”. This makes me wonder what value do these countries hold for degree holders, who have worked day and night to get their degree and although the army protects the sovereignty of a nation, it is these graduates who will eventually make the country move ahead and generate more jobs and revenue for the nation. I feel that this is unfair for the average joe and this is just like directly telling him that just because he doesn’t have these particular talents, he has to join the army, whereas he/she might be good at a lot of other things but is forced to stop it for two years just so that he can finish his service.
In conclusion, decisions like these must be left to the individual as this is a question of their Right to Freedom and no person must be forced to risk their lives if they don’t want to because serving in the armed forces is not the only way in which a person can give back to his motherland. I think that instead of forcing them to join the armed forces, they should instead demonstrate all the perks which a veteran will get and make it more incentivizing for people to join the army instead of forcing them and filing criminal charges if they do not oblige. At the end of the day, a person who is interested in the work he does will not only give his best but will also make others around him achieve more.
Article by
Aryan R
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