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Military Service In The United States

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Since the end of the Vietnam War, The United States has had and all volunteer military. This has led to a disparity in the population distribution that represents this country’s armed forces. To rectify this incongruence, congress should pass a law requiring that all citizens must enlist in military service, for a two year minimum service contract, between the ages of 18 and 21, unless they are enrolled in an institution of higher learning, in which case military service would be deferred until graduation, giving the individual the opportunity to serve in the officer corps.

According to the US Army’s Office of Army Demographics website, a study conducted by the OAD showed that not only are the numbers of minority youths interested in entering military service steadily decreasing, the distribution of ethnicity across Army branches, (Combat Arms, Combat Support, Combat Service Support) shows a large polarization, with Combat Arms jobs largely filled by Whites and Hispanics, and Combat Service Support jobs largely filled by African Americans. Additionally, the percentage of Whites and African Americans serving in the military is larger than that of the distribution of the entire population, while the percentage of Hispanics serving is around half that of the entire population. …show more content…
By requiring everyone to enlist, it would ensure that the entire population would share equally in the nation’s defense and all socio-economic sectors would be equally represented. It would help to ensure that any conflict considered for military action would get the full attention of those making that decision; if you know that your son or daughter may be put at risk as a result of your decision, you may think twice about it. This method has been successful in countries like Israel, where military service is compulsory, regardless of any

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