Why The Military Should Not Be Mandatory

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” is from a famous inaugural address from late President John F. Kennedy (BrainyQuote. Xplore). This sentence has a lot of meaning on it. By birth, we have to have some patriotism. If we cannot love our country, then we cannot love anything in this world. People serve their country in many different ways. Some become politicians, some join the army, and some just join the social service agency. There are also arguments about serving the country. Some suggest that joining army or serving the country should be done from the early age. However, I think that young people should not be required to do public services.
Forcing an individual to serve
The rules and regulations of the military do not suit everyone. If a person is forced to go into the military and eventually finds out they just can’t make the grade, they end up with a dishonorable discharge that is an embarrassment for the rest of their lives. As long as the military provides free training and schooling there will always be people enough who will volunteer. The U.S. military has plenty of volunteers who sign up for duty. With enough benefits due to military service, plenty of Americans sign up willingly every year. Military service in the United States should never be mandatory. If the war is justified, enough people will join the force of their own volition.
I can see the benefits of having mandatory military service, and it is not that people will be able to "fight" for their freedom and "earn" it. The benefits are that it will teach people, make them more fit, and have a higher chance to implement true respect. However, what is the point if it is forced? By forcing something like this onto people who don't want it, we essentially remove a freedom that people enjoy, the freedom of choice. The military should be something that people choose, not something that is required, otherwise it will end up like public school, and people won't value it -they would hate
Basically, many countries in the world like Singapore, Norway, Germany, etc., have required military or civil service for all young men and sometimes women after their secondary education. In Germany, for example, young men are required to do a nine month paid training with the military, or if they cannot due to medical conditions, a nine month paid community service job (Ricks 646). After that, they can pursue a free college education subsidized by the country or job training. I think this is a very good system because, being a future American, I am appalled that people here are in such a weak position at that critical age going into adulthood. They drop out of high school or college, they have unstable jobs, and they put themselves in a position where they lose all the opportunity they have to make themselves successful in life or useful to the world. Not to mention many Americans are extremely individualistic, materialistic, and superficial.
Mandatory service is not service, it’s slavery. When you are not willing to do it don’t do it. Enforced community service teaches nothing .You take a bunch of students and make them do something they might or might not want to do. We already do that with school “for their own good” and just look at the dropout rates. Have we ever tried to force someone to do something ? Do they do it as well