Would the Draft be a Good Thing?

Being in the military, I've noticed that people perform tasks more efficiently when they volunteer for it vice being forced to, most probably because they go about it with a positive attitude, or because they know they are good at it. Whatever the case may be, it seems that whenever some one is forced to do something they don't want to do, feet dragging commences and inevitably results in poor performance. But these tasks are trivial and are something every service member must endure. Imagine being obligated to fulfill a role that carries a significant risk of negatively affecting your life permanently. Imagine driving home one Friday afternoon, planning to spend the weekend with your friends and family. You stop by the mailbox and open it up, inside you find a letter from Uncle Sam telling you that you are to serve no less than two years of active duty in the armed forces, and if you don't comply you can receive up to five years in jail and be fined up to $250,000.

This is all assuming you are an able-bodied, mentally stable, 25-40 year old, not undergoing a fulltime education or prison sentence. So let's say you were a conscientious objector, someone who has a deep-seated moral or religious objection to serving in combat and/or the military in general, you would still have to fulfill your "tour of duty", which is two years of active service. Even in a country where religious tolerance is what helps make it desirable over other countries, when it comes down to it, you may have to violate your own religious convictions for something you don't believe

If someone who is in objection to the current conflict (but not a conscientious objector) gets drafted, then it's possible that that person may exhibit poor behavior and a lack of motivation, which could then hinder the accomplishment of the mission in which that individual was drafted for. I volunteered for the service, and there are more times than I can count where I felt a sense of hopelessness and despair. I've served with people who have tried to commit suicide or abused illegal drugs just to get kicked out. For people who are forced in, I can't imagine the magnitude of depression that serving in a war that they may have protested would instill inside them.

Not only would they be contributing to a cause they don't believe in, they are being forced to do it in lieu of pursuing their dreams and achieving their goals, which is detrimental to the human spirit and morale. Their dreams of becoming doctors and lawyers; business owners and inventors; anything they could ever hope to be would have to be put on hold, because they are forced to travel to a far away land and run the risk of being mentally and/or physically damaged, and therefore rendered incapable of becoming their idea of a hero for the rest of their lives.