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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Lots of European countries have mandatory military service. Including scandanavian countries that are sometimes held up as a social democracy ideal. It works because they are primarily defensive in nature. When invaded, you want to have a large reserve list to fall back on; people who can return to service with minimal training. Motivation isn't usually a problem, because people tend to rally around the flag when invaded.
Conscription doesn't work as well when you're the aggressor. You have to convince those conscripts that they are here for a good reason. They otherwise start questioning why the hell they're putting their life on the line for a bunch of rich idiots at the top. Even if they don't desert, they won't put in their full effort.
This is basically the difference between the armies of Russia and Ukraine. They're both relying on conscripts, but one is clearly the aggressor and has motivation issues. We can also look back to America's history in Vietnam. Lots of people both pressed into service and at home who question why the hell we're doing this.
So what you do instead is ramp up jingoisim. Convince people they should enlist, and then it was their own "free will" to run off and die for rich idiots at the top.
Some of the people most opposed to mandatory service are the top military officers. They want a voulenteer military, not because they're high minded or anything, but because they know what kind of wars America fights.
That is, until one party had its brain eaten by a man who doesn't understand the playbook.