Sweden to consider female conscription

[Pekka]

Surprise I didn't read one word of this thread. Becauise my head guerst. But, I'm all for this. I think this is the first stepo to real power of equality.

[Az]

Conscription can be ok, if done properly. And everyone should be conscripted on the same level.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
....

Though women should be at the front lines as much as men. Equality, dammit

I must admit, that's the one place we don't put female soldiers. They can fire artillery pieces, they can be engineers, but we don't let them in the front line forces.

It's just not fair to the enemy.

OK, the real reason is because of the morale hit when female soldiers take casualties. It's bad enough them dying, but when they come home looking like Simon Weston it's very bad for the rest of the troops. It does nothing to keep discipline, which is one of the few strong points of the UK army (it certainly isn't most of the equipment).

[Combat Ingrid]

Here's to Lancer and MRT: the future Swedish Elite Troops

[Buck Birdseed]

I used to be for a professional army but I've recently been convinced that National Service is the way to go. Do you want all the firepower and combat expertise in the country concentrated with a bunch of extreme-right-wing gun nuts or with the people in general? A nicely balanced, National Service army should theoretically make military coups impossible, and would allow the citizens to rise up and fight any attempt at establishing dictatorship.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
Here's to Lancer and MRT: the future Swedish Elite Troops

sylvia saint is czech though

[Combat Ingrid]

Buck: I agree with you, but since there is no military threat against Sweden I think it's wrong to force people into military service. As long as there is conscription though, everyone should be drafted, if we are supposed to be equal.

MRT: Thanks for the kind correction, I guess it's not my area of expertise

[MRT144]

believe me, knowledge like that is a curse

[oedo]

Re: Sweden to consider female conscription

Originally posted by Olaf HÃ¥rfagre Today, only the Feminist Leftist party and the Green Environmentalists supports female conscription, which is about 15 % of the parliament. If the governing Social Democrats join their side, there will be a majority supporting the suggestion.

this is strange. I always thought feminists would be against a women conscription while the Greens would be against any conscription army at all.

I don´t know much about Sweden but probably you will need more than just a single majority in parliament for inventing a women conscription. does your constitution allow this kind of a reform?

The part of the male population who are choosen for service has dropped significantly after the end of the cold war. Back in the 80's when I served, 80-90% went to military service, while today, only 30-40% goes. The strange thing is that people who are choosen but refuse could get jail, while people who want to go are frequently refused. The laws of conscription need some revison in any case.

many European countries still running a conscription army have this problem. now consider. if you decide to draft women as well, injustice will even increase significantally. this alone makes me believe that this idea will be dropped soon again.

some European countries think about abolishing the drafting system these days. others (France, Netherlands, Spain) have abolished it already. the reason is obvious. cold war is over and there is no military threat anymore which can be faced with a mass army. and a drafting system for out of area missions (only) is as absurd as unreasonable in a democratic country.

conscription is injust in itself and it won´t become juster if women will also be drafted. conscription made mass destruction wars like wwI, wwII or vietnam war possible. military leaders don´t care about soldier's lifes as long as they know they have enough soldiers in replacement.
conscription is bad for the economy as well.
I´m amazed that Sweden still has a conscription army, anyway. you do better by dropping it in total.

[Main_Brain]

and a drafting system for out of area missions (only) is as absurd as unreasonable in a democratic country

but if you abolish conscription you have to abolish Civil Service too..

[muxec]

In Israel more men try to avoid military service, than females do.

[Kropotkin]

From a moral standpoint I'm very much for having equal conscripts for men and women. Less women than men would probably be picked as the armed forces is far from training everyone as it is. But, hey, they considered me to be good enough and in that case women should have a decent chance of doing the same.

I went into real rage in front of the TV weeks ago when a women from the social democrats (I can't remember her name) stated that it wasn't unfair that women got all the possibilites that men have but should be forced to service as they gave birth to children. As far as I know, giving birth, is a personal and volountary decision. Back in the days of the 30s and 40s a country to the south of Sweden gave medals to women that had a lot of kids. Now, however, giving birth to future soldiers is not an obligation.

I'm not that much a fan of switching to a professional army. As I see it, the function's to have enough people with guns to make an invasion costly. They shouldn't invade any other countries.

[Az]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
Here's to Lancer and MRT: the future Swedish Elite Troops

Sylvia Saint with something big and phallic in her hands. Why am I not surprised?

[*End Is Forever*]

I don't believe in conscription at all, but if conscription is insisted upon it should be on an equal basis.

[oedo]

in no country and in no time ever there was something like an equal conscription.
people weren´t drafted because they were privileged (like in France under Napoleon, in Germany from FreddyII-Hitler, or just think of Gerorge W. Bush), or rich enough, so they payed a fee for not being drafted (Turkey today), or they were lucky or smart enough to escape (Germany today, Sweden most likely too).
an equal conscription - with or without women - is nothing but an illusion.