> I suggested the current poll question. I expected about at least 50 percent of the people to have enlisted or been drafted. I was *extremely* surprised when I saw 60% had never joined because they didn't want to. I myself plan to join the Marines or Army, and my father was two months away from Vietnam. I was just wondering why some of you people weren't interested. Was it a personal situation or was it you did't want any personal risk?
>
> By the way, I didn't mean the title, that was just to catch you're attention.

My position on this is that I wouldn't ever want to kill anyone (I reckon the Seventh Commandment means "Do not kill someone, for any reason" although I know some people don't agree with that - and there's enough of them to make a good enough army in case it's ever needed) and that I would conscientously object on those grounds. I'd be happy to serve in another way (hospital work, factory work etc.) but I would never go to be in an active regiment.

I did go to an RAF interview once, enquiring about how to be a search and rescue helicopter pilot. It turned out that the RAF only employs fast-jet pilots, and the ones who fail the tests go off to save people's lives. Great for the confidence if I ever fall into the sea, that. In any case, I wear glasses, so that's out.

Looking through some peoples' responses to this thread, a recurring theme (explicitly in Sam's case) is that serving one's country should always be the priority. While of course I respect that, I would still question it. Surely we have a greater responsibility to the world as a whole than to any one country? Although I disagree with some of the Roman Catholic Church's teaching, it did have this going for it: it transcended national boundaries (at least in the 1500s, my study period of history), making people feel that their allegiance was to the faith, and that this was the most important thing. This didn't stop wars happening in enormous numbers, but still, I do like that ideology. It's almost a Communist idea, really (Communism has its bad points but it has an awful lot going for it, too), and if the entire world had become Communist (Trotsky's idea in the 1920s) there would be very few, if any, wars at all. If you've ever read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, it describes a world where there is no concept of nationalism, where the whole world acts as one.

Evidently, the world would lose a lot of its character if the concept of the country did not exist. But would it be all bad?

Si-"Diverting the topic as far as possible"-gi