It’s official - from January 1st 2011 there will be no more military conscription for Serbian citizens. This is a big change for the country since the mandatory military service has been around for about 200 years now. Reaction of the general public is, as the case often is around here, mixed. I would say the prevailing feeling is that of a relief, especially coming from young men not wanting to waste several months of their life on either military or civil service.
The military was not in such a good shape lately, economically speaking, and the mandatory service was gradually shorter and shorter, from original three years after the second world war, to 18 months until 1985, over 12 months up until 2001, to present-day 6 months.
Hopefully making it a professional one will help overcoming the financial mess and help become more effective. Also let’s hope we will never again have the chance of using the army in war time.
Serbia is not the only country that will abandon compulsory military service in 2011 – Germany will do it too.
Tweet
It’s actually not a positive move, and even more depressingly it looks like a move towards future NATO membership. Military service or some sort of national service is an excellent way of installing a sense of national pride, civic duty and responsibility into young people, it also builds character and maturity. The decision of the UK government to abolish national service has resulted in generations of spoilt, delinquent and entitled young people while damaging the army. Rather than wasting an 18 year olds precious time when they could be out getting drunk or stoned in their bedroom, military service is a challenging and rewarding experience, its sad that future people wont have this opportunity.