America Needs a National Service Program

> Under the ASF program, it would be possible for approximately 90% of American high school graduates to enter a year of military service

For a program that seems to be conscription-minus-a-war, I'm not clear it's architects factored reality into their equations. For example, 90% of HS graduates aren't going to be able to pass military physical exams - or be unable meet military entrance requirements for other reasons.

Past that, youth might be better inspired if they served Americans/people rather than government.

I think that the tragedy of our current circumstance is that “public service” is apparently only valuable or respectable if it involves military (or in this case diplomacy). I think many people sacrifice opportunity to enter other roles in government with a sense that they are serving their country. Why not look beyond force in the way that Roosevelts public service core built so much of our now crumbling public infrastructure???

In order to define "national service", one must first ask, "what is the nation"? And no answer comes.

I think this would be a great idea, except that it requires the issues it attempts to solve, to already be solved.

- So many in the US oppose a mandatory draft it's doomed. Anyone not in the majority party, some in the majority party, hippies, businessmen, poor people, rich people. The author even acknowledges this but downplays it. It doesn't matter if it's genuinely a good idea, politics in the US has devolved into opposing things that are practically pure benefit, just because the other party supports them, and this is something that even the "supporting" party would have strong internal opposition to.

- If this somehow did pass I bet it would be implemented unfairly and incompetently, like most regulations that have been passed since...the 2000s[0]? Many people would evade it: the author states there will be exceptions, but doesn't acknowledge that unless the above sentiment changes any exception will be widely abused. The metrics to get the cushy diplomatic roles would also be abused, and the competition would make already-stressed, mentally-ill high-schoolers even more stressed and mentally-ill. Those who end up in the military may find themselves in poor positions, like...military service-members we have today.

- Seriously, the US can't maintain mold-free barracks and adequate food for the <500k active-duty members in the army now. How do you expect it to provide adequate food, housing, and policing to say, 30 million (the amount of people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 24[1])?

- I doubt those who go through the program will gain national pride. They'll be angry and disillusioned if the program goes terribly and they end up with issues like the aforementioned poor housing and food. Probably even if the program goes mediocre, but they're forced against their will, because they'll imagine issues and dread the experience. Today, many people leave the army disillusioned and angry, though I don't have numbers except this article saying 40% don't complete their first enlistment[2].

- Related, I doubt many people going through this program will be competent, making it a worse experience for themselves and everyone around them. A nonprofit has stated that "77% of youth between the ages of 17 and 24 cannot qualify for the military service"[3], and I do think those numbers are high or misleading (people can be disqualified for reasons like ADHD medication, which should be manageable). But with youth obesity and mental health statistics, education statistics (the "reverse-Flynn effect"), social media statistics, etc. and everything I've seen and heard about Generation Z, I don't think many would be good or even OK service-members. Today, the army has issues with members who join and regret under-performing, and my understanding (again, no numbers) is that many oppose the draft specifically because they don't want to see more of those people.

The sad thing is, if the US had national pride, community, and better work ethic, these issues wouldn't exist and the program would work well. And the fact that other countries have similar programs that do work well, suggests they have national pride, community, and work ethic that the US doesn't (granted, I think the US has other benefits that other countries don't, mainly individualism and a different kind of work ethic).

This program would certainly build national pride, community, and better work ethic if it were successful, but since it first requires those things, I think we need a different approach.

[0] I'm sure there some big government projects that were successful and I only don't know about them because nobody notices quiet successes. But I'm also sure those projects had other characteristics that this does not, like being uncontroversial and not having requirements (military housing and nutrition) that are already not adequately met. Regardless, I'm probably overly-pessimistic here and would love to hear about, or better witness, more government successes; but there are more reasons that make me doubt this would be one of them.

[1] in 2023, according to https://datacenter.aecf.org/data/tables/6538-adult-populatio...

[2] https://www.army.mil/article/151308/to_become_force_of_futur...

[3] Council for a Strong America, https://strongnation.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/1541/aab5fcd...