What are your thoughts on alternatives to military service if drafted?

[Ernie]

This was a good exercise.

I would not pay a substitute, per say, if he was conscripted. If someone volunteered to take my place and was not conscripted, I might let him do it. I do help pay police and military salaries. But I am open to being challenged on this.

I think I would rather serve as a non-combatant than spend time in cold damp cell. Nonresistant people have fed soldiers and nursed wounded soldiers. Is there a real difference between doing this as a civilian vs. doing this in the military. I think I could witness to soldiers both places. I realize it would be harder to witness in the military. Again, I am open to challenges on this.

[ken_sylvania]

This was a good exercise.

I would not pay a substitute, per say, if he was conscripted. If someone volunteered to take my place and was not conscripted, I might let him do it. I do help pay police and military salaries. But I am open to being challenged on this.

I think I would rather serve as a non-combatant than spend time in cold damp cell. Nonresistant people have fed soldiers and nursed wounded soldiers. Is there a real difference between doing this as a civilian vs. doing this in the military. I think I could witness to soldiers both places. I realize it would be harder to witness in the military. Again, I am open to challenges on this.

What is the purpose of the military?
Is the person who builds the guided missiles less valuable to the war effort than the man on the front lines who calls out the coordinates for the missile strike?
The military insists that the medics are an integral part of the force and critically important to the goal of winning the war. Why would you want to be a war hero?

[JohnL]

You know I hadn't thought about the draft because it's been out of the picture for a long time. At any rate I'd be too old to qualify for it. Great thread though because it challenges my thinking on something I hadn't considered. I think I'd serve as a medic though because I'd be serving individuals in need not an organization.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

This was a good exercise.

I would not pay a substitute, per say, if he was conscripted. If someone volunteered to take my place and was not conscripted, I might let him do it. I do help pay police and military salaries. But I am open to being challenged on this.

I think I would rather serve as a non-combatant than spend time in cold damp cell. Nonresistant people have fed soldiers and nursed wounded soldiers. Is there a real difference between doing this as a civilian vs. doing this in the military. I think I could witness to soldiers both places. I realize it would be harder to witness in the military. Again, I am open to challenges on this.

Getting involved in the military involves swearing fealty (faith/allegiance) to the ideology of America in a VERY powerful way. Not only do you have to swear it verbally (and swearing an oath might be the first sign you stepped into the wrong shoes), you have to perform your faith through works (exercises) and religious rituals (like marching, saluting, honoring the flag), and recite various catechisms and liturgies designed to mold you into a person who sees his fellow countrymen as higher and more human than anyone who is citizen of another nation, ESPECIALLY citizens of nations yours is at war with. You have enemies assigned to you, so to speak. As a Christian, you know how you are to treat your enemies. As a member of the military, to show any love or compassion to your enemy is aiding and abetting an enemy of the nation, which is treasonous and counter to your oath.

[Neto]

The poll options assume the listed options to be available, although I don't think that hiring a substitute would be an option in modern times.

Paying income taxes (which were not around during the Civil War) seems to me like the modern equivalent of hiring a substitute, though more indirect since the taxes are used for multiple purposes.

To what extent does doing something indirectly affect the ethics of a thing? It does seem to make a difference. Looking up a neighbor and asking if he would serve in the military as a substitute for $25,000 seems like an entirely different thing than paying one's income taxes, part of which is used for military.

My people (Paultdietsch), having relatively recently arrived as refugees by the time the 'War to End All Wars' began, were persecuted by their American neighbors because they would not invest in War Bonds. (Some barns were burned down, other men were tarred and feathered.) Some openly stated that they wished it would be made a tax, because that way they could comply without violating their faith before God. But because it was 'voluntary', they could not do it. (Some did, of course.)

[Judas Maccabeus]

The Quakers, in the Civil War refused to pay the fine...as that money went straight to the war chest and wasn't a generic tax. In fact, they were called commutation fees, and many poor people hated them because the rich could afford not to go while the poor had to go. I don't think I would pay a commutation fee to support the war. I also wouldn't help in noncombative military offices - ie making munitions - however, I would I think work as a medic, like Desmond Doss, in the army.

I thought medics were usually armed and could be called on to fight.

There was the man who served in the German army as an engineer (forced) and who carried a dummy wooden gun that would have gotten him shot if found out. Documented in a great book, A Thousand Shall Fall.

Yeah...I think you are right. Now that I remember it, Desmond refused to carry a rifle which landed him with military prison and other penalties for awhile until they finally accepted it. He then worked as a medic but without any weapons...famously risking his life over and over again on Hacksaw Ridge saving the lives of 75 men at Okinawa when the rest of the army left them to die. So I think that is what I would be willing to do...work in a combat zone, without a weapon, to save lives. (Not saying I am wanting to...)

They wanted him to carry one even if he didn't use it...and he told them he didn't want one because he was afraid in the heat of the moment he might use it.

He was a Seventh Day Adventist, which were classified 1AO. Could be drafted into non-combatant service. Mennonites would ask for 1O, noncombatant service only. I sought 1O, was denied, appealed, and they ended the draft in my year. I would likely have been sent to Canada.

I do not know if 1AO was available in WWII. It was in Vietnam.

[Judas Maccabeus]

You did not include "flee" in your poll.

[Ken]

You did not include "flee" in your poll.

About 60,000 American men took this option to flee to Canada during the Vietnam war.

[Judas Maccabeus]

You did not include "flee" in your poll.

About 60,000 American men took this option to flee to Canada during the Vietnam war.

Had the draft continued, it would likely have been 60,001. I have distant relatives in Quebec. My grandfather (mother's side) came from Canada. Almost certainly, I would have been landed.

[JohnH]

I would gladly serve as a medic or otherwise in a role to take care of the enemy’s prisoners of war.