Elitist 'soldiers' and 'sailors' may drag their nails across your chalkboard all too often. They can be awfully annoying -- and the true and solid practitioners of the trades (they are not professions...) get as annoyed or more so than thee. They not only do not do that, they have little use for those that do. You may be hanging around the wrong crowd...Good point. I have thought about it, long and hard for many years and on balance am convinced that involuntary servitude is simply wrong (peace or war...). We fought a war about that IIRC.Conscription is a nasty word balanced by "public service" a nice euphemism for conscription. Before, y'all professional military types get your back up think about the country and what it means to enforce service.Ah, I see. The issue is not military proficiency, heaven forbid. Not about providing needed but costly services at cut rates -- nor is it even improving citizenship and / or the civil / military relationship. It is about breaking "...the back of the elitist soldier culture" and providing empathy for civilians.Service does not necessarily have to be all bullets and blood, nor does it require substantive treasure to throw at the problem. Conscription would break the back of the elitist soldier culture and perhaps infuse it with a wee bit of empathy for civilians.
Xeyli jalebi. I've been a civilian far longer than I was a Soldier and I am empathetic toward them. Also sympathetic. When I retired, they told me I wouldn't like it (they got that right...) and that no one was in charge. They got that wrong -- EVERYbody's in charge. Thus my sympathy...Huh? Well no, not really but even if you were right, what, indeed are the ramifications? Being an Academic is belonging to a club, so's being a Lawyer, Doctor, Carpenter, Law Enforcement Officer, Freight Conductor or Orchestra Conductor or dozens of other things including the ABA (any one of the four or five...), NEA, FOP or UAW. All those type can and often do belong to several varied clubs. Doesn't pass the 'So what' test IMO.I get it. Being all military is a club. No problem. What are the ramifications of that?
(And when the Doctors can stack the deck to keep their fees high and competition stifled, don't point out the services are different because they can do damage. I won't even mention SWAT teams... ).
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