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124

What's your opinion on mandatory military service? (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by helloworld55@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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This question was inspired by a post on lemmy.zip about lowering the minimum age to purchase firearms in the US, and a lot of commeters brought up military service and training as a benchmark to normal civilians, and how if guns would be prevalent, then firearm training should be more common.

For reference, I live in the USA, where the minimum age to join the military is 18, but joining is, for the most part, optional. I also know some friends that have gone through the military, mostly for college benefits, and it has really messed them up. However, I have also met some friends from south korea, where I understand military service is mandatory before starting a more normal career. From what I've heard, military service was treated more as a trade school, because they were never deployed, in comparison to American troops.

I just wanted to know what the broader Lemmy community thought about mandatory military service is, especially from viewpoints outside the US.

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[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The stuff we're finding out about modern war is that it's all brain damage. If you're regularly firing rounds of any kind then you're damaging your brain. In a normal training environment it's not really noticeable. But when you start going through entire cargo trucks of shells, bullets, or missiles on a daily basis then real damage is happening. There isn't anything you can do to mitigate it and still fight a war.

With this new understanding of what's happening in war zones our society needs to have a really big conversation on just when it's okay to put any soldiers into combat.