its a question of degree. going to the barracks when you get called up by mail vs getting grabbed off the street, punched in the face and shoved into a bus headed for the training center.
They will probably go to prison instead, like some of my friends did. Giving military training to people who definitely don't want it can be a bad idea for many reasons.
Unmotivated draftees are mostly used as a workforce. Especially in modern warfare, soldiers without significant training are worse than useless, as the wrong action at the wrong time can compromise the stealth and mission of their unit.
If you ever wonder what is the role of professional army in case of any serious invasion or war. Their role is to hunt for conscripts, kidnap them, and transport them to the army recruitment centers.
Thats not how most of the manpower gets there, without even knowing the Ukraine example, I venture to guess based on the superior morale of Ukrainian forces, that most are drafted willingly.
This still does not prove the very general statement GP made, which doesn't align with draft reality in historical wars
Millions of people enjoy great lives today because at least one of their ancestors were smart enough to not go to the meat grinder. While millions of young men became genetic dead ends dead in a ditch for no reason at all. Even their names forgotten forever.
Millions of people were not burned to death due to not living under Nazi rule you mean.
Most of our ancestors did join a draft, as it was universal, be it the Napoleon wars, WW1 or WW2. This interpretation of history is highly creative I will give you that
Name 10 common soldiers who liberated a concentration camp , from the top of your head. If you care so much about that as you give the impression of doing.
Are you implying that the fact there are no common soldiers famous for liberating concentration camps, means that saving further millions that would be killed by the eventual Nazi occupation of Europe, is in vain?
You - who ask for people to sacrifice their lives in the most horrific ways - don't even care to know the names of any of those who have done that before.
To most people, these soldiers are just part of a nameless and faceless mass of flesh and meat to be utilized and expended.
Who would want that to be his destiny? Certainly not you, because you are here on HN typing and not putting your life on the line to defend innocent people in Ukraine, in Haiti, in Africa, and so on.
I don't know, I served in my country's army so I have no issue saying that.
You don't have to be the famous astronaut to be an anonymous part of the space program and participate in doing something worthwhile like getting a man to the moon.
I am having trouble understanding your all-or-nothing argument, and apparently your need for worldwide recognition for an action to have meaning.
Then I wish you good luck when you're drafted to fight a war, or decide on your own volition to go fight. But I couldn't ask you or anybody else to make that kind of sacrifice. As most soldiers in history died for nothing - and killed for nothing.
Every man who refused to go to war and has progeny living today did something more worthwhile than those young soldiers - many of them true heroes - who died in the mud or the snow without having any kids of their own.
But I'm not anti-military, rather the contrary. But it should be for those who want to fight from their own free will - like many of the most successful armies through history.
Silicon valley privileged mindset in Europe, what are you talking about?! You mean Piotr, Ivan, and Andrei working remotely for American company for equivalent of 60k USD annually?
Most armies in Europe, especially in post-Communist part of it, are nepotist corrupted structures. People go there for tax and housing benefits and early retirement. They are not even particularly fit, skilled, or trained to fight with an invader. Especially in these countries men aged 18-45 have absolutely nothing to fight for.
> At least they are not travelling near the speed of light. That's a whole different can of worms.
Oh, they're building software and hardware for this anyway. The differences between earth clocks and moon clocks (CotS) would lead to large errors if you were to calculate distances. There was an article about this a while ago. Fascinating stuff.
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