[MChat]

Originally Posted by Joe Wicked

Mandatory service is mandatory service no matter how you slice it. I don't care what type of service it is. I volunteered to serve in the military because I believe that the military keeps our freedoms. One of those freedoms is the ability to choose if I wish to serve. Trust me I understand the logic, but if you make some type of service mandatory, you MAY make more people understand what sacrifice is about, but in the process you take one of the freedoms we have away. I served to protect every freedom we have, not certain ones. It pisses me off that my step daughter is trying to talk her brother out of joining the air force because she does not think anyone should join (that would fix Bush), but that is a right that I served to give to her, and she is exercising that right. I will never support taking away any freedom. It does not matter if I think it would do them good. That is their choice to make.

Perhaps "losing" freedom for 2 years is a good thing. As the saying goes: you don't appreciate what you have until you've lost it.