Military service
In Sweden, we have (or had, read on) compulsory military service. All men, and all women who want to, at the age of 18 goes to a conscription. There
they try to fool you into thinking the military service is a cool thing. Sure, some people think so. But why force the rest of us into it? There was a time when there
was a point in being able to defend your country with every man, but now even the supreme commander of the Swedish army admits that there really is no threat to the nation.
There are ways to get away, however. Telling lies to the psychologist has always been a possibility, and nowadays even the military has managed to get the thought they don't need evey man. So, some people get away, but not necessarily those who don't want to do the military service. No, a lot of people who actually want to do it are sent home, and instead they take in others who would rather be left alone. They even force people in who have good reasons for not doing it, e.g the company they run would be ruined. And then they expect us to believe the army is a flexible and modern organization ...
Yours truly didn't lie to the psychologist, but managed to get to do a useful version of the service. I will do something perhaps best translated as "civil service" during the autumn of 1999. It is supposed to give knowledge that makes you able to help
people during disasters or accidents. Sure seems better than fifteen months in Boden, a city far north of the Polar circle, where some of my classmates will go.
