Young Americans Could Benefit From Conscription, Now More Than Ever

“Although it might not have been glamorous, my time in the military helped me through challenges that currently burden many young Americans.”

After graduating from high school, I did not move into a college dorm. Instead, I had my head shaved, and I began sleeping in a room with 15 strangers and waking up at 5 a.m. I had no choice. I was conscripted in my home country: Singapore.

Although it might not have been glamorous, my time in the military helped me through challenges that currently burden many young Americans. Teenagers have faced a mental health epidemic over the last decade, worsened by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and habitual social media use. Their physical and mental fitness have dropped to record lows. And when these young people get to college, they often close themselves off to opposing viewpoints, and recent events regarding anti-Semitism on college campuses reveal that some students lack critical thinking and moral clarity.

These problems can be addressed through military service, which could justify restarting peacetime conscription in the United States. The low mental and physical fitness of today’s young Americans—obesity, drug use, low test scores—disqualifies 77% of those aged 17 to 24 from serving in the military without a waiver. But reviving conscription could prompt expanding the preparation programs that exist for basic training to make all recruits fitter. In Singapore, the army gives less-fit individuals office jobs that still have an army-like disciplinary structure.

The disciplinary structure is hard on recruits. In the Singapore Army, discomfort was a daily experience, from the several hours of fitness drills, combat training, and military strategy lectures. We would sweat in Singapore’s heat and humidity the entire day and only receive access to showers late at night. We also faced tough consequences for minor mistakes. If just one person brought his phone to a training session, which was almost always prohibited, that meant 60 push-ups for the entire platoon. If just one person had his bed messy or locker dirty during a check, that was 60 push-ups as well. If we talked back to our commanders, that meant no returning home for a weekend.