Europe

Hell fucking no. Consequences be damned.

The only draft I would accept is a police instead of a military one. Force some civilian eyes on how cops handle themselves, wash the profession enough so that it has to survive public scrutiny or otherwise get eventually called out on it.

the USA has it (but dormant as it was last used in the 60s) now, instead part of an automatic register.

The US doesn't

and has never had

mandatory peacetime service of the "one serves six months or a year or something like that to be trained in military stuff during peacetime", but if one is male, one does need to register so that in the event of a war where people are called up, one does need to serve then.

It also means that the US has to train people from scratch in a war where it needs them, so has a relatively-long time until it can greatly ramp up its forces if it needed them.

I mean, Finland does have conscription, but I was exempt from it for peacetime for medical reasons and if that hadn't been an option I probably would've done civil service instead. In both cases I'd technically still be subject to draft in wartime, though probably wouldn't be put into a combat role.

That being said, I don't know if I would seek to flee abroad if the draft did go into action. Putting my life on the line to defend the neoliberal world order against an only somewhat worse (Russian) world order is not an enticing prospect, and my faith in the Finnish and European system becoming anything but neoliberal is at an all time low.

You can be "lucky" and not seen as fit for the military. Or you can apply for civil protection. Should you be in the military they will try to keep you and i personally dont know of a way out. Maybe if youre wealthy and have top lawyers.

They have an Achilles heel tho; If you start mentioning extreme backpain you might be out soon. They dont want to pay for crippling you/chronic backpain.

As for the jail part. You were drafted and refuse?--> straight to jail

You are a recruit/soldier or whatever and you dont follow orders?---> straight to militaryjail

Militaryjail is full so you are lucky right? Wrong you go straight to jail.

Jail is full? Preparations are on the way for extracells.

You feel like a tool for the state? You are.

I'm in the USA and am medically unfit for service.

Hunter Thompson was a famous american iconoclast and no friend to the oligarchy. He served in the Air Force and said that the draft was a good thing, because it forced all kinds of people to interact and work together.

Another Vietnam era draftee once wrote that a professional army is full of lifers who will obey any order, no matter how illegal. A drafted civilian who doesn't care about their military career will stand up for what's right.

Mandatory military service breeds corruption and violence, there's a reason many countries abolished it. You are putting hundreds of dumbass teenage boys, whose parents weren't rich enough to afford a waiver, all together governed by people who intentionally went into service (often not the brightest kind to say the least) and expect good things to happen. Countries that have immediate concern for invasions from neighbours should invest in an actual paid standing army, if they can't - too fucking bad.

I'm quite glad to see that most of the answers are positive here. It used to be the other way around, of course this thread is not representative of the whole Europe, but anyways..

I'm a Finn, so I went. My plan was to do the minimum and get the hell out of there. But after 6 weeks I liked the guys in my group, I actually enjoyed having to actually do something different for a change, not just sit at the computer or go to band practice/gigs. So when the 8 week starting period ended and it became time to choose what you want to "specialize" in, I checked the boxes for NCO and officer training. Didn't get to go for the officer training but got to go to be a NCO. I was in the artillery. My job was to figure out where we were and which direction we were pointing. So I learned a lot of stuff about maps, that was fun because I love maps. I also learned how to take the position and direction from the moon and stars, that was fun because I love stars and space shit. I learned a bunch of other skills as well. If I were a dictator, I'd force everyone to go, at least for 5-6 months. You learn skills that you might not need, sure, but you also learn stuff that you didn't know you needed.

Over the years I've heard people say "I wouldn't go because my country is not worth fighting for." I would understand that if you are from russia or some such place. But so many Germans have said it to me and I'm just baffled by that. Like okay, I get it, the government is shit. But in a war, you are not defending just the government, you are defending your family, friends, your house, the park you walk through, the way you live, the way your neighbor lives. Are those not worth defending? I'm fine if you are a pacifist and wont take up arms, thats fine. But if you say your country is not worth defending and you live in Europe, thats just ridiculous.

I'm a misanthrope and I hate most people, but if someone tries to come to my yard and start some shit, I'm gonna go fight, out of spite, if not for anything else. I want to hate people in my own terms, I want to tell people to fuck off in Finnish in Finland. Not in russia.

Croatia recently introduced conscription that lasts two months (three or four months for civil service) and I won't be called because I'm too old but I am seriously considering volunteering because I believe I could learn some skills (working with stress) that will help me in life.

Last time I was part of conscription, I sent in my objection letter, and served Germany as a paramedic.
No regrets, 100% would do it again.

Germany had conscription until 2011, men turning 18 were required to be mustered until then, and, if qualified, had to go through a basic military training for a couple of months. Even when qualified for military service, you could pick an alternative in lieu of military service, which was some kind of social service, like helping in an old people's home or hospital, amongst other things.

The law for conscription in Germany is also dormant, not abolished, so it could be re-activated any time... and I for one would welcome it being reinstated, for all genders. Working with people and doing something that is important for society at that age was a grounding experience that me and my fellow Xennials wouldn't want to have missed, even though we were not too keen on the whole thing back when we were 18. There was a palpable delta in maturity between those that went through military or social service and those who went to study right away, especially in those that studied go into some bullshit job, like business administration.

I would only agree to the law being re-activated if there was a compulsory civil service for people after being retired as well though. People become lonely and egotistical when they get old, and I believe that getting people to contribute to society for a year or so (not full-time) after they have focused on themselves and their careers for decades is urgently needed. Might cure the electoral behavior a bit as well (old people tend to lean more to the right).

They can already call me back as it is: I swore an oath to the Queen and the King inherited it. No need to draft me, I'm already on the list.

In a very unlikely scenario they decide to drsft me, I would happily refuse.

In the USA, if they try to force me, I will chew our their jugulars and be shot on the spot. I will not die alone though I promise you.

Over my rotten corpse.

My experience is that people who say they'll definitely enlist and who shame others for being "cowards", well, mostly haven't enlisted (too young, too sick, too activist, not AMAB, emigrated at first opportunity) since shit hit the fan. I haven't enlisted because I have chronic health issues; this didn't stop cops from distrusting my documents, detaining me and trying to forcefully enlist me. I'm supposed to go through the military medical commision every year but I don't trust them (only did it once), there's lots of neglect and abuse happening during the actual war; if I go through it again and this time they disregard my diagnoses, I'll face prison. I respect those who enlist though, and donated my enlisted friends money for equipment when I had a better salary; I also closed my civilian black-day deposit and lent the military money for a year (the profit covers a part of what I have to pay the lawyer who'll try to object to my illegal detention and fine).

Welcome to Greece, where once you turn adult(18-19), you have to go to army. If you don't show up, police or stratonomia searches for you, and if you fully never show up, you are called insubordination, and you get fine around 6k and you go to military court. You get to serve 12 months on mainland, 9 in boarders. The only way to avoid it is if you have some kind of medical situation, pay for it or have someone to move the strings, and still they will accept you, but unarmed. Apart from it, the worst part, is the training, they teach you old stupid stuff, and the weapons are so bad that you can't even hit target, no matter how good you are! I did 9 months, and the training was the worst thing I ever done on a WW2 machinery. The thing is that training will probably change, as army is doing changes lately(Bless Niko Dendias). Will see.

Yes, refusing draft is punishable by jail. I knew people that were hiding from MP for years. It's not like they had to hide in some basement but they definitely couldn't just live under their registered address. The risk of getting arrested was always there. There was some statue of limitations on it so you only had to hide until you're 28 or something like that.

As for your question, for me it depends on the war. If someone would try to draft to invade other country I would refuse. If other country invaded Spain I would defend it (well, not Catalonia or Pais Vasco obviously but other communities for sure).