Hi Issy,

I only put a bit of humor in to lighten the conversation. Please respect our friends feelings on this.
You know my views on militarism, and the senseless folly of war. I'm realistic enough, given the world as it is, to realize Australia needs to have a defence capability, and I stress the word defence. I'm not in favour of conscription, in Australia it has always been applied unfairly and for the wrong reasons. As for the legality, the government during WWI tried twice to introduce conscription through referendum and failed. I understand during WWII, strings were pulled to keep the sons of money out of the action, simmilar with Vietnam. Incidentally in WWI, Korea and Vietnam, Australia was under no direct threat. Given militarism and modern warfare, conscription for a large army, other than for political reasons is a thing of the past. Some countries use conscription to mop up and hide unemployment.

If I am ever forced to shoot anyone then I would turn my gun back at Is Mise and his ilk!

Yuyusu,
If your feelings are so affected by the thought of conscription why did you enter the discussion?
As I’ve mentioned before I do a bit of counselling as does my wife, in her capacity as a nurse; we have both done counselling of rape victims, in our respective sexes, and there is absolutely no comparison with conscription.

Anyone who thinks so is out of touch with reality.

No comparison indeed.

When one is raped, it is of course very humiliating and painful, but it typically lasts just hours, if that.
But when one is conscripted, they are being violated for months and years, physically, mentally, emotionally, being degraded, chased and bullied helplessly in fear with no end in sight, the law being on the side of the abusers.

No, no comparison.

Those who feel not another's pain and horror, who believe that other people's body and soul belongs to them, are all one and the same, regardless whether their particular pleasure happens to be sexual or just enjoying power over others for its own sake.

Is Mise, the Marquis de Sade will be proud of you!

Yuyututsu,
Wake up!!
Rape victims are not over it in a few hours, the horror often lasts for life’\ and sometimes a short one as they kill themselves.
Disease from rape lasts for years and sometimes has horrific consequences such as rendering the victim infertile and every time she sees a baby she can be reminded of the horror that she went through.
Would you equate your experiences with that of raped children?
Children so young and small that they had to undergo reconstructive surgery.
You have nightmares?
Think of the nightmares of small girls who were raped (in fact tortured) and who are frightened to be around men.

So you got yelled at and made to do things that you didn’t want to do; welcome to the real world.

Is Mise,

You still don't seem to understand.

As I stated before Yuyutsu is expressing his feelings in regards to the long term implications of mandated military service.

The fact that you do not feel the same about his comparisons is of concern, but I cannot change that. The fact is Yuyutsu has feelings just like you, myself and most other people.

As you state you and your partner have been involved with assisting those (via couselling) who have been victims of sexual assualt. So why not try and show some understanding and compassion here in terms of where Yuyutsu is coming from?

That is simply to accept the words put and move forward. I mean would you question a person affected by sexual assualt to this level? I would hope not.

It is up to you to see if you will show such compassion. If you allow your own support and experience with the military to cloud your judgement, I would strongly advise against any person in the military seeking any assistance from yourself.

Understand where others are coming from and take the another approach, that being to listen and realise one thing:

"History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from. If it offends you even better, as you are less likely to repeat it. It is not yours to erase, it belongs to all people."

This of course includes taking responsibility for such histories and for myself it means respecting people who have been forced into the military through no choice of their own and understanding their pains, alongside the pains and lives lost in terms of innocent civilians.