national service as a form of punishment for the disadvantaged
Paul1405,
How so ? Providing the unemployed & generally misguided with shelter, food, direction, insight,
instil a sense of responsibility & belonging etc. is punishment ? Providing young people with a platform into adulthood is by no stretch of the imagination punishment !
I fully agree with you re the privileged 18 year olds. They really should serve as well but to begin with it's the unemployed & underprivileged who need the the first tickets to the show ! The military part is not in the picture as the modern military requires switched-on educated, capable people who already proved that they they have the mentality that the others still have to acquire.
I view the whole scenario similarly to a Bradfield scheme, long-term & gradual until it snowballs but with positiveness from the very beginning !

Paul1405,
> no exemptions for the kids of the better off's,
So you don't want it to be a form of punishment for the disadvantaged, but you're happy for it to be a form of punishment for all the young?

There is no justification for arbitrarily destroying people's freedom!

Did anyone see the news article on the web where Xi yesterday put China on a war footing alerting the Chinese military to prepare for war as a consequence of the Wuhan Bat Soup pandemic?

I don't think he is doing it because of expected antagonism from other countries over the impact of the pandemic for which they blame China. I think it is a first step in a long planned act aimed at reclaiming lost Chinese territories particularly HK and Taiwan which they are determined to bring under the direct control of the CCP.

Foxy, I suggest you keep that Chinese name of yours because I reckon you are going to need it.

Paul, Aidan, your ideology gets in the way of common sense.

The US defense force is a form of national service, which acts as a training ground for vast numbers of prospective trades people who can find it hard to get civilian trades training. They train vast numbers of people, most of whom move on to civilian jobs once trained.

Our defense force could do the same. They train large numbers of people, but make the mistake of not giving civilian qualifications when their training is complete. Training is expensive & I think our underfunded defense forces are doing this to try to hold on to those they have trained. Change this to encourage the trained to move into commerce, & we would have a large resource of well trained people, with diverse skills, that are hard to obtain in civilian areas.

BHP in Newcastle, when steel making was very profitable used to over man their plant, with both trainers & apprentices. Their policy was to dismiss all apprentices as soon as they qualified, to make space for more apprentices. The training was very high quality, making the newly qualified much sort after & quickly employed elsewhere. We no longer have industry able & willing to do this, hence our importation of skilled people.

I doubt a civilian national service could do the job of the US military. With our greeny interference we would concentrate on creek bank beautification, & pretend it was land care, along with parks recreation facilities. Such an organisation would not have access to the high tech areas where we need trained & competent people. While it may offer some opportunity to some needing it to prosper, it could not offer the high tech training the country needs. It is only the military that can do that, but only if the policy were changed to something more like the US.

There is no justification for arbitrarily destroying people's freedom!
Aidan,
So, what you're saying is force people to pay Tax to support the those not inclined to pull their weight but don't ask the recipients to chip in ?
That sounds too much much like socialism where only one side pays for everything everyone takes advantage of !
Destroying freedom you say ? I say two years of getting exposed to decency & responsibility is the smallest prize any young person can pay in return for a Life of pretty good security !
All you're doing is advocating bludging !