re: Should military service be compulsory? Ben Shapiro laments U.S. military participation.

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Look, I'm not for the government being able to compel citizens to do anything except follow the law.

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Basically my gut reaction. Compulsory anything is the enemy of liberty.

I actually think that, if citizens could join a 1-2yr program with training, service, and no risk of deployment, many more would sign up and then have the opportunity to officially enlist in a traditional fashion.

Normal enlistment periods are a significant commitment for someone under 25, and the Iraq + Afghan wars dispel any of the old “just join the Reserves” narratives.

No.

No way in hell I would want my sons fighting for this government.

My ancestors fought against it.

I listen to Ben Shapiro all the time, but I’m pretty sure he would have fought to get out of compulsory military service with everything at his disposal.

If it’s so awesome, he should have signed up, I did. What he means is compulsory service is good for you, me and the country, but not him.

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Basically my gut reaction. Compulsory anything is the enemy of liberty.

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It is. I can't tell you you're wrong about that, because you're not.

But like I said, we're already in for a pound, with nobody pointing at the Emperor and recognizing that he's not wearing any clothes when it comes to compulsory mass education. Might as well go in for an extra penny for something that would have a greater net benefit IMO.

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I actually think that, if citizens could join a 1-2yr program with training, service, and no risk of deployment, many more would sign up and then have the opportunity to officially enlist in a traditional fashion.

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Well, o.k., but let's think about who wouldn't voluntarily sign up.

Basically, the ones who could benefit from it the most and/or benefit others serving the most.

I'm also not sure why we would give anybody military training and then not deploy them to fight if needed.

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Normal enlistment periods are a significant commitment for someone under 25, and the Iraq + Afghan wars dispel any of the old “just join the Reserves” narratives.

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I think what you mean by that is that people used to join the reserves because they thought they could get a pass on deployment and found out that they couldn't.

Again, see above. Yeah, I'm sure you could get lots of people to enlist if they didn't have to do anything to be enlisted, but the country has to benefit too. It's not just a jobs program.

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Probably not a terrible requirement.

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Only to protect American shores.

I am sick of watching disabled veterans being used for props to raise money for multimillion dollar charities.
Not one was injured protecting the USA.
What did we get from Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, or Iraq?