An All-volunteer Force As The Better Alternative To Compulsory Military Service

“If a country cannot save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say: Let the damned thing go down the drain!”, once said Robert A. Heinlein at the 29th World Science Fiction Convention’s Honor Speech. In the last century, there has been a crucial transition in the countries’ military policies from a compulsory military service to an all-volunteer force. This shift has come with vehement opposition from all segments of the community as well as embrace. Even though those who are against the alteration may seem to have legitimate reasons, their arguments are based on weaknesses, because an all-volunteer force is much more reasonable in terms of economically, socially, and morally.

To be able to comprehend the issue of the conscription, it is beneficial to learn what the conscription and AVF, all-volunteer force, means. Conscription is a military service in which all the citizens of a country, generally males above 18-20 ages, are required to take part in the force from 6 months to 2 years depending on the country. While most of the developed and developing countries such as the U.S., France, and the United Kingdom put an end to the mandatory military service, there are still some countries such as Iran, Israel, and Turkey, where the conscription is still in use. On the other hand, an-all volunteer force is the one which recruits its manpower from volunteers by enabling them social and economical attractions. The AVF is not only economically beneficial to its soldiers, but it also is to countries. The economists writing during the late 1960s clearly favored a volunteer force, which they argued would be more efficient than a draft force.

Shifting to the AVF is advantageous for economic reasons. In the AVF system, the amount of money spent on the personnel is lower than the amount in the draft system. To prove this fact, the military history of the U.S. can be investigated. Under the presidentship of Richard Nixon, the last man was drafted in December 1972 and reported for training in June 1973. In 2000, the cost of military personnel in the U.S. was 27.3 percent whereas it was 34.2 percent in 1970, before the inception of the AVF. Thanks to this smaller cost of military personnel, countries may purchase new equipment from other countries or develop their exiting ones. Moreover, the AVF has lower turnover and less annual require for people to serve in the army. To limit the weight of enrollment, conscripts are generally required to serve for one to two years. Volunteers serve for a longer time, and in the time of need, they are willing to enroll in the force again. All the more by and large, the U.S. experience seems to approve the contentions made for every single volunteer power based on financial proficiency and cost-adequacy.

The all-volunteer force is more favorable than the draft in terms of its military effectiveness. A voluntary army would be formed by people who prefer a military career as opposed to those who are hesitant recruits that only look forward to serving out their term. Beside the impact on battling soul, the AVF can produce, as stated above, a lower turnover in the force, freeing individuals’ valuable hours that are misused in training under conscription. A smaller, but more skilled, competent, motivated, and better armed power could give the equivalent or more prominent military quality. According to the libertarian view, conscription is a from of involuntary servitude that, by its very nature, constitutes such a gross violation of individual rights that it can never be justified under any circumstances. Conscription includes being obliged to leave family, friends, and companions, to delay or to modify completely one’s career plans, to live and work under the almost domineering control of a stranger for a certain amount of time, which is generally 6 months to 2 years, and to endanger one’s very life. On the other hand, the AVF would safeguard the opportunity of people to serve or not to serve.

The draft system prevents people from pursuing higher education due to the fact that it creates uncertainty. Having received high school education, people are required to serve in the army at the age of 18-20, which is the most productive years for a one. However, the unpredictability of the conscription has an influence on every decision young adult males make and frequently drives them to act differently from the way they would otherwise do, which effects both people’s lives and the economy of their country. The military draft afflicts young adults during the period of life when most human-capital accumulation occurs, e.g., in education, vocational training, and early work experience, that conscription interrupts or postpones; in addition, human capital (e.g., technical skills) accumulated before the draft depreciates during service, thus, the economy's stock of human capital is reduced.

From a wider perspective on the effects of the compulsory military service on education, it can be said that colleagues and universities are lacking pursuing their correct educational activities. Every year, in the countries with the draft, thousands of people find themselves in educational institutions with the hope of staying away from the army. However, the university’s duty is to deal with intellectual and educational issues, and this is almost impossible with students who would maybe choose to be at work rather than school but cannot be owing to the possibility of being drafted. People’s going to the university for the sake of avoiding the draft also creates discrimination among the members of society. While people with high standards and income are able to afford high education in order not to serve in the force, it is not accessible to those with lower life standards. The draft imposed unfair burdens on the less-advantaged members of society, who were unable to obtain educational or occupational deferments. For this reason, it can be said that the conscription bears excessively on lower classes, which makes the freedom of serving in the army something that can be bought.