Bring back the draft. No, really. ? POLITICO
STOCKHOLM — If Sweden reinstitutes the draft, as it is expected to do within a couple of months, many will report the move as a return to a previous era. For centuries, young men in Europe were conscripted for military service to protect countries from invasion. Then came the 1990s and the presumed end of history. With territorial wars considered a thing of the past, large European powers scrapped compulsory military service in favor of smaller professional armed forces. The return to conscription is both a sign of more uncertain times and the result of difficulties Sweden has had in filling its military roster with only volunteer forces. But it would be a mistake to write off the effort as a rollback of progress. Sweden’s initiative will show the draft in its modern incarnation: targeted, highly selective, and applied to both men and women.
When Sweden suspended the draft seven years ago, it joined a growing club: Countries including France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands had taken the same step in the nineties, and Germany did so in 2011. Its reinstatement reflects a consensus in the country that the experiment has failed. “......
The highly selective draft represents a sea change. No longer do Swedes, Norwegians and Lithuanians with no mental or physical aptitude for the military have to endure a year of instructions and exercises they detest. Indeed, the modern military employs sophisticated equipment that should not be entrusted to youngsters who’d much rather be somewhere else. “When I did my military service everybody had to serve, and if you were less able you worked in support functions like postman,” recalled Eksell. “The selective draft will help us move from military service as something you’re forced to do to something you’re selected to do.” Or as Kjersti Klęboe, the head of the Norwegian defense ministry’s personnel department, told me: “Producing soldiers is no longer about filling quotas and units. Instead we pay more attention to the quality and skills — the added value — of every soldier.” The 21st-century draft is for top achievers.....
But the modern, super-selective draft is different. Though armed forces are having to refocus on territorial defense, they don’t need soldiers for trenches. As Šapkinaitė pointed out, they need highly skilled young men and women who can be trusted with expensive high-tech equipment. And the best conscripts are given positions of responsibility a 19-year-old could only dream of in civilian life.
Having performed military service is no longer a minus (“too stupid to get out of it”) or a neutral point on one’s CV — it’s the mark of a young man or woman of particular potential. A survey among Norway’s current class of conscripts shows 90 percent of women and 83 percent of the men are pleased with their experience. The public, too, seems to be on board. A 2016 survey found 73 percent of Norwegians support the gender-neutral draft, up from 63 percent in 2014. In a September 2016 poll, 62 percent of Swedes supported the new, gender-neutral draft. And an April 2016 poll in Lithuania showed 52 percent of the country supports the return of conscription........