Need for Mandatory Military Service - Essay Sample

Introduction

Recent reports from cities such as Cleveland and Detroit have shown that most of the young people in high school drop schooling at that level. The reason for their dropping from school is because they feel that they had enough and that the high school diploma gives them enough information to experience life. The trend seems to be taking over most of the other cities in the country. There seems to be an assumption both among the young people and the older people that these people have already learned the value of work ethics, sacrifice discipline overcoming challenges and sacrifice. Many of the older people have never learned these things, and they eventually teach it to their children. Therefore, the only place that young people can get a chance to learn some of these things is through mandatory one-year military service. The service should come immediately after high school. There are some reasons that society should take this approach.

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One of the reasons for mandatory military training is that it will promote national unity. One of the ways that it can create unity in a nation is that it allows people to train together and thus have a shared experience of saving a country. Besides, when people are in the military, they get the chance to understand what life is like in the army and the length that people got to protect a nation. Through the process, the citizens will get the opportunity to understand and develop an appreciation for the sacrifices that military men make when defending the country (Brown & Routon 2016). These are all aspects that work towards bringing people together especially when they have to deal with any political, cultural or social problem.

People need to undergo mandatory military training because it ensures a high level of government participation. With the idea that citizens would be required to join the armed forces if a need arises the public will be much more aware of the governments' decision especially in the cases of national security. With a clear understanding of the risk that the country is facing people would take an active role in the policies that the government is taking and seek a greater voice on the regulatory approaches to problems. Therefore, it is essential for young people to undergo mandatory military training and service because it will make them citizens that are more involved in government issues and the safety of the nation.

The training can also provide essential skills to the citizens. In the military, the practice focuses on more than just merely saluting and shooting people. The instructions that they get there is more than just the idea of technical skills needed in the military. Many citizens and volunteers that have gone through the training have often mentioned that there are many other skills and work-related attitude that help the individuals in their daily engagement. Some of these skills include initiative, responsibility, stress management, teamwork, diversity, stress management and global awareness (Mattila et al., 2017). Besides, people can learn the habits of discipline, healthy living, and skill of self-service. Many of the young people are lacking these skills, and thus they are not adequately contributing to society and their lives. Therefore, there is a need for these young people should go through this training.

The training will also promote equality among citizens. The necessary enlisting means that everyone has to undergo the training and no one is exempted from facing war. Every citizen, ranging from celebrities citizens, wealthy people in business, and ordinary citizens will have to take part in the battle when help is needed. Therefore, the ideas that every citizen is a soldier to ensure that everyone is equal and that they are supposed to be responsible citizens. The cases of rich people taking advantage of people will no longer be the case in society (Torun & Tumen, 2016). Since everyone is a soldier, the rich will respect the poor while the poor will have an equal role to play in society. This would be an effective way of creating a culture that respects everyone.

Research is showing that young people are losing out the necessary life skills due to the lifestyles that they are living. Many of these young people are growing up without any sense of responsibility and work ethics. The idea that many people have is that the most important thing is that they need to be financially stable. There is the wrong notion that values are not necessary since no one is teaching them the significance of these values. However, it is evident that one place that they can get a chance to learn these skills is through military training (Torun 2019). While mandatory training might not be the best way to go, it could still be the best approach that society can use to teach young people some moral values. With this training, young people will be more prepared to solve other issues in the community. Therefore, society will be a better place.

However, there are downsides to the idea of mandatory military training. One of the disadvantages is that it violates people's free will. Through compulsory military service, the government of the day will be going against the right to exercise free will. In the case of mandatory training, people do not have the right to decide whether they have to participate in military training or not. It is a compulsory process. Besides it interferes with the other forms of education. Necessary training would often take young people when they are at the peak of their studies (Spring 2018). Therefore, young people are stopped from pursuing their careers and even higher education. Besides, the service would delay the individual entry into the labor market thus reducing the returns that they could offer to the human capital investment. Therefore the training might seem to provide value to the government and the nation but still affect the people that are forced into it.

Several advantages and disadvantages come with the idea of mandatory military service. While it might interfere with the rights of the individual, it is quite clear that it still offers several other advantages to people and the society at large. There is a need to understand that the role that it plays is much more than the disadvantages. The citizens that go through these training can be more prepared to be work even better. While there might be an argument that it delays them from entering into the labor force, still when they come into the workforce, they would be more prepared and would offer more value. There is thus need to have the service for the young people.

References

Torun, H. (2019). Ex-ante labor market effects of compulsory military service. Journal of Comparative Economics, 47(1), 90-110.

Torun, H., & Tumen, S. (2016). The effects of compulsory military service exemption on education and labor market outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment. Economics of Education Review, 54, 16-35.

Mattila, V. M., Kyrolainen, H., Santtila, M., & Pihlajamaki, H. (2017). Low back pain during military service predicts low back pain later in life. PloS one, 12(3), e0173568.

Brown, C., & Routon, P. W. (2016). Military service and the civilian labor force: Time-and income-based evidence. Armed Forces & Society, 42(3), 562-584.

Spring, J. H. (2018). In service to the state: The political context of higher education in the United States. In The Academy in Crisis (pp. 45-68). Routledge.