Do you think the US should implement mandatory military training?

Funny thing is, gym classes in schools sorta are a form of mandatory military training, albeit to a far, far lesser degree. Our leadership noticed that most Americans were unfit during WW1 and decided they needed us to learn how to exercise... hell, my school had recruiters come in and do some basic teamwork exercises with us.

But no, we absolutely shouldn't do that. The US already has a bigger volunteer military force than we need and mandatory military training is an unnecessary infringement on our rights as a people. It would also be a burden on the civilian labor force.

However, I do think combat & use of force training should be prerequisite to attaining a firearms licensing. Most US gun owners were never taught how to actually stop a crime in progress, and that's a huge blind spot from a personal safety perspective.

It's not the military stuff that they young people need, it is self-discipline. They need the ability to reason properly, set themselves goals, and work toward them. Some people will get that from spending time in the army but my own observation is that this is far from universal.

Training someone as a soldier is not a good preparation for civilian life. As an example when British soldiers were stationed in Northern Ireland as a supplement to the police force it was found that they needed specific training to handle the civilian niceties of the role. It was also found that when the were posted elsewhere afterwards that they needed to be retrained to be effective soldiers.

You've got a huge volunteer pool and tbh the states is in a pretty safe spot geopolitically speaking.

Places like Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Israel, we're in not so friendly waters and we have tiny populations(maybe not so SK)so mandatory military service makes sense

No. I think military service should be competitive with higher pay and better benefits to attract better candidates. There should be lifetime medical/dental insurance for all with five or more years of service at any doctors, dentists, hospital or clinic. Co-pays should decline as service years increase and $250,000 life insurance coverage doubled if death occurs in combat.

The whole package should be designed to attract the most capable warriors and support staff.

I don't think the military provides any better preparation for real life than say six months spent volunteering in health care or on environmental projects. Plus professional soldiers should not be expected to babysit reluctant and resentful young people. My parents were in the navy and I witnessed professional sailors who were completely unable to cope with civilian life (my dad included).

Would bode well

Terrible idea.

The idea is sound but it would just be too expensive.All the extra equipment and wages to pay.The U.S. military budget is already massive and there are plenty of volunteers to serve.

The military doesn’t want mandatory service. They saw what happened with resentful recruits in an unpopular war in Vietnam and don’t want a repeat of that.

Yeah I think that would be a solid idea it was straighten out these piece of s*** kids and our country would be stronger for it

No, I think a volunteer military is best.
Forcing people is not good unless it's an emergency.

If you want to bring in national service then you'll want to bring in conscription as well...

Mandatory, no. Heavily incentivised, absolutely!

no

Unnecessary