Conscription/Trivia

Real world countries that have universal service or have a recent history of conscription include, in alphabetical order:

• Australia -- Sporadically during World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. Ended in 1972 and hasn't been re-introduced since.
• Bermuda --
• Brazil -- Although most are dispensed due to quotas.
• Egypt -- With a bewildering array of caveats and exceptions. You see, men get conscripted as privates in the Army or police at 18 for one year, unless they're the only adult son (not only child, only son) in the family during the period of his eligibility, in which case they are exempted from conscription entirely. You might also be exempted entirely if the government judges that your family depends on you for income. If you're an illiterate or otherwise barely-educated peasant and not exempt, however, you could instead get conscripted into the paramilitary Central Security Forces for three years. If you live in a coastal city, you might get conscripted into the Navy; however, if you go to college your conscription is always delayed, in which case you get conscripted as a private (or seaman in the Navy for coastal kids, but not the Central Security Forces--again, that's for illiterate peasants) for a year after you graduate, unless you graduated as a doctor, dentist, or engineer, in which case you get conscripted as an officer for three years in particular units. Also, anyone might be excused from service if the armed forces decide they don't need more people (there are 80+ million Egyptians, most of them young; we don't need that big of a military)--are you getting the drift?
• Finland -- A general draft of males over 18 years old, women may serve as volunteers.
• Germany (also West Germany and East Germany) -- These can be served out in civilian capacities. Will be suspended sometime 2011.
• Hungary -- Theoretically, it's still in effect, but the quota is set to 0 since 2002.
• Iran
• Israel -- Notable for also drafting women. There is a major dispute between the secular and ultra-religious communities about the latter's requirements for military service.
• Korea, both North and South -- With soldiers having an encyclopedic knowledge of Tae Kwan Do as part of their training.
• Norway
• Poland -- Abolished in 2009.
• Russia in the modern world
• Singapore
• The Soviet Union -- According to this, it was a disaster. (There's a story in there about Soviet Army troops trading their tank for as much vodka as they could carry.)
• Sweden -- Up until the 1st of July 2010.
• Switzerland -- This universal service is the basis of Swiss citizenship, and is the main reason every Swiss citizen is required to keep a rifle and ammunition in the house.
• Taiwan -- Also a disaster, and a surefire way to render some of the most expensive weapons in the world, purchased by Taiwan, largely useless^[1]. On the bright side, it'll probably shorten any future war and and thereby minimize collateral damage and suffering. Women can become, and frequently are, officers, but not enlisted.
• Turkey
• United Kingdom -- From 1945 to about 1959.
• United States -- Which turned out to be a major factor in opposition to The Vietnam War, leading to an all-volunteer military. That last conscript war, for anti-drug enforcement, ended in catastrophe, with 1000 arrests per week in Vietnam alone. Ended in 1973, although Selective Service still asks men between 18 and 25 to register. Practically speaking, odds of the reinstatement of the draft in the US at any time in the foreseeable future are somewhere around asymptotic-zero.

1. ↑ Because of the low efficiency of the administration department, arms and weapon loss are often not replenished until at a certain point where all the piled up applications got filed altogether, making a lot of additional weapons. Since having more arms than you supposed to is a very bad idea, most often resort to burying all they shouldn't got before the checking.