To those who think the draft (conscription) is "a necessary evil"

Because of the recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, I've seen some arguments for and against conscription, from both men and women. Most men argue that conscription is a necessary evil, while all the women argue that it's not.<br><br>In the past, I used to be one of those men. The culture in my country is very heavily based on collectivism, so we're often told that we have to do everything for our country, or die trying. I believed it for most of my childhood and teenage years. The turning point was during the war with Azerbaijan, when I finally realized how fucked up conscription really is. I was conscripted into the army at 19 years old, and was stationed in one of the southern regions of Armenia. When the war started, a few of my comrades from my same battalion were sent to the front lines. Only one of them came back, and he came back with no legs, and in a very bad psychological state. We often heard sounds of gunfire, explosions, and jet fighters passing by the base. Eventually, the base we were stationed at was bombed by an Azeri missile, which happened a few days before the ceasefire.<br><br>After that, I lost all of my faith in the system. I saw how expendable our government considered us, and how much the average civvie cared about a young man's life. Which is to say, they didn't give a fuck. In fact, I remember all of the anti-man sentiment from the civilians back in my city. I remember one woman saying "why do you men get sent to the front? Why do we have to send our sons and brothers to the front?" I remember one self proclaimed feminist saying "I'm not a feminist, because I don't hate men, I just want equal rights for us. BUT, when it comes to the draft, I fully support it." I remember another woman saying, in response to a comment from a man saying that he'd rather die than fight in the war, "no bitch, you're going to the front whether you like it or not." I'd love to say that these were just isolated incidents, but they weren't. This was the general sentiment from civilians, mostly women.<br><br>Fast forward to now, and I'm a born-again bachelor. I have no faith in the system, and I have very little faith in people. I don't go outside anymore, because I don't want to take the risk of getting drafted again, in case of another war. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I'm still alive.<br><br>The moral of the story is, don't listen to anyone who says "it's a necessary evil", because they have no idea what they're talking about. They have no idea about the psychological trauma that you can develop from being conscripted, they have no idea what kind of pressure and stress it puts on you, and they have no idea about the pain that it causes you. They have no idea about the cruelty and shamelessness of the system, and they have no idea how expendable you really are.<br><br>If anyone tells you to join the army, and if anyone tries to guilt trip you into joining the military, just tell them to fuck off and be on your merry way.