Here's my unpopular opinion: Everyone should be required to serve a minimum of 2 yrs in the military...everyone. There, I said it.
Oh really? Where do you attack? And how do you keep the Romanians quiet? Oh, pardon me. Who cares about the Romanians? General McFuddy, he does not look left, he does not look right, he just starts marching, that General McFuddy.
I forgot about the Croatian-Romanian alliance. Soon there will be little holes in the back of my army, spilling the blood of American heroes.
I think our country would be better off. Teamwork, selfless service, treating people with dignity and respect, leadership development, serving overseas (being exposed to different cultures), etc.,.....would make for better citizens who could ultimately become decent politicians. That's the end state. Better leadership for this country.
It wasn't like army training but my granddads used to teach me army things like flanking and positioning. how to hide etc. the secrets of communicating in the dark without words. how to use compass and how to use maps and markers. taught me to shoot, to fight.
Their Soldiers carry their weapons everywhere they go even off duty. Plus, they don't have any choice.
I actually have a really good ability in sense of direction because of this. I can be in anywhere and I can naturally point north and somehow very accurate.
Nice. My grandfather served in The Yugoslav People's Army. No choice, had to. Taught me how to swear in Macedonian.
The thing is we'd wind up with a humongous military. I did a quick search and there are nearly 30,000,000 people 19 to 25 years of age in the US. Of course, about 20,000,000 are probably too obese or stupid to serve but that still leaves 10,000,000... Population Distribution by Age