Other Countries
National service is the usual term for compulsory military service programmes in countries including Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Bulgaria, Greece, Guyana, Israel, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Finland, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Conscription in the United States was called Selective Service and obligatory service was required until 1973. In the Netherlands, conscription was called "service duty" (Dutch: "dienstplicht"), and continued until 1996. After 1996 service duty was suspended in the Netherlands but not abolished, and although unlikely, it may be reinstated at any time by the Minister of Defense. Most NATO countries discontinued obligatory military service in the 1970s. Israel was the only country to conscript young women as well as young men for military service in the late 20th century.
India has a separate program called the National Service Scheme (NSS) in which students from primary level to graduate level participate. In some Indian colleges (like IITs), it is a compulsory part of curricula.
Read more about this topic: National Service
Famous quotes containing the word countries:
“The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
“The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength. The same is historically true of governments. Really peaceful countries do not waste life and energy in war preparations, with the result that peace is maintained.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)