[society-by-contract]

Are you quite sure you wish to score a meager political point by comparing military service to slavery? If military service is not coerced it is not slavery. However, coerced conscription *is* slavery.

[dirtboy]

If a person is required to perform a service for, say, two years, for a substandard wage, is it not slavery?

No, it's called serving one's country. As millions have over the years.

[OHelix]

I'd love to see what happens to the poor recruit who suggests to the drill seargent that said recruit is not "owned".

[Chuckster]

Maybe. Speaking as someone who served both during the draft era and in VOLAR (The Volunteer Army for the acronym challenged) I can state unequivocally that the draft produced a superior force, at least in the case of the US Army. during the early VOLAR years the discipline, and with it the effectiveness, of the Army deteriorated so badly that professional NCOs and officers were leaving in droves. I was one of them. With fifteen years of service I decided to call it quits in 1980.