Is Mandatory Military Service a Good Idea

Nations cannot be secure unless they are defended. While civic duty and virtue might compel citizens to want to provide voluntary military service for the good of their country, civic duty may at times need to be compelled through compulsory service. As Simon and Lovrich (2009) point out, the War on Terrorism has propelled the nation into a new environment in which security and defense are top priorities. In such times, a country cannot depend upon the hope that citizens will volunteer their time in military service in defense of the country. It becomes imperative at such moments for mandatory military service to be enacted so that the nation can be sure of being prepared at all times to oppose its enemies and maintain its security. This paper will show why mandatory military service for all able bodied citizens is an idea that should be supported in the present climate.

The current state of the world is one in which threats are all around us. The War on Terrorism began following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. and the war continues to this day. While in an ideal world, every able bodied citizen would naturally want to provide military service to protect his homeland, the world we live in is one in which people often need to be compelled to act on behalf of the common good. The present climate, in which Terrorism has reared its head so many terrible times, able bodied citizens should understand that their nation needs their help in protecting itself. If there is no line of defense, that which we call our home could very easily and very soon be lost. To prevent such from happening, mandatory military service would allow the State to conscript all able-bodied individuals in support of the defense of the nation.

Mandatory military service can also be viewed as a natural extension of citizenship. As Sasson-Levy (2007) shows, military service and citizenship are concepts that are inherently linked on philosophical grounds. A citizen belongs to a larger society and derives benefits from that association (such as the benefit of community, networks, commerce, education, shelter, socialization, labor, produce, etc.). At the same time, he also has a duty to serve that same larger society from which he derives benefits (e.g., civic duties that apply to any democratic society). Mandatory military service is one of the natural expressions of this relationship. It indicates that there is an inherent responsibility on the part of the citizen to devote at least a portion of his life to protecting and serving that State which has nourished him from his youth.

There are many examples of mandatory military service throughout history including right up to our own time. Ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks and Romans, relied upon mandatory military service at one point or another in order to maintain national security (Finley, 1981). Throughout the Middle Ages, the nations of the West required mandatory military service of its populace in exchange for certain rights. Even today, states such as Israel require that all able-bodied citizens serve in the Israeli military for a number of years -- primarily because Israel feels that its security is at stake. Considering that America can be said to be in a similar position, what with the War on Terrorism continuing to this day, it stands to reason that mandatory military service also be enacted here, too.

One argument against mandatory military service is that compulsory military service is on the decline worldwide and has been since the 1970s when progress ideals began to take root in societies around the globe (Tarabar, Hall, 2016). While this is a compelling argument, a possible explanation for the decline may have more to do with the shrinking of populations. As Tarabar and Hall (2016) point out, "the probability of shorter military service time is positively associated with smaller country populations, smaller lagged army sizes" and other extraneous factors (p. 55). Mandatory military service has been on the decline not so much because it is out of favor in progressive environments but because those progressive environments have fostered few children, which has in turn led to shrinking populations. This is actually a problem for any nation that hopes to sustain itself for generations to come. For the present generation, it points all the more to the need to protect what is currently possessed -- i.e., the nation, its infrastructure, its assets, its communities, and its families. By supporting mandatory military service, the families of the nation can set about prioritizing what is most important in society and ensuring that the values and ideals necessary to any nation's survival are protected by the first and last line of defense -- the military -- in times of war. As we are currently in a serious war against terrorists, it only makes sense that we act accordingly and conscript the able bodied citizens of our nation to help in the work of protecting our nation.

In conclusion, mandatory military service is an idea that should be supported in the present climate in which the U.S. is engaged in a War on Terrorism. The nation is under threat of attack and requires defense. Because citizens benefit from and owe a duty to the society to which they are attached, it is a reasonable to require citizens to serve in the military for a period of time so that the nation is always sure of having a defense. While this may seem to contradict progress ideals, such as the right to choose, it is argued here that the very survival of society depends upon citizens focusing on the current situation, the threat it presents, the need for defense, and the duty of a nation's people to provide that defense.

References

Finley, M. (1981). The elderly in classical antiquity. Greece and Rome, 28(2): 156-

Sasson-Levy, O. (2007). Contradictory consequences of mandatory conscription: The

case of women secretaries in the Israeli military. Gender and Society, 21(4): 481-507.

Simon, C., Lovrich, N. (2009). Sources of support for mandatory military service in the context of the war on terrorism: Survey evidence of pre- and post-September 11, 2001. Social Science Quarterly, 90(2): 368-386.

Tarabar, D., Hall, J. (2016). Explaining the worldwide decline in the length of mandatory military service, 1970-2010. Public Choice, 168(1): 55-74.