Aleena, my perspective on conscription and its place in a democracy is somewhat different from yours. As someone who was conscripted and served in combat I believe that conscription is vital to the health of a democracy.

I dropped out of university and was drafted into the US Army when I was 20 years old. I had the opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School and became a second lieutenant. I spent a year as a military adviser living with and fighting alongside South Vietnamese soldiers. I ultimately got out of the army as a captain after 5 years. I have been building software ever since.

I cannot speak about the militaries of other nations, but I do know that the United States values its individual soldiers and carefully guards their wellbeing. Being a soldier can be a dangerous occupation, so the training can be uncomfortable, rigorous, and difficult. Many of my male friends were also conscripted and served in Vietnam. We all agree that we were not abused. We are all now over 75 years old.

So why do I believe that conscription is vital to the health of a democracy? America’s founders feared large standing armies that serve the government rather than the people. An army with a large proportion of soldiers who identify with civilians more than the military is very difficult to turn against those civilians.

More importantly, it is difficult for a democratic government to wage an unpopular war when the blood being spilled is that of the electorate’s conscripted sons and daughters. American politicians learned that lesson from the Vietnam War, when protests brought down the incumbent administration and forced the war’s end.

The politicians’ reaction was to end conscription and build an “all volunteer” military. That has resulted in one small war after another. The last war that America should have fought was the one that threw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The rest since have been unnecessary and unwinnable. “Bring back the draft!”

Conscription in dictatorships, where the people have no choice in waging war, is an unmitigated evil.

https://medium.com/@dick-dowdell/long-ago-and-far-away-bf6cdd9063cf