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by danaris6 hours ago |
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upvoteby pfdietz6 hours ago|
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> Desertion has, historically, been a capital crime.

And it remained so for the US in WW2, although the sentence was carried out just once.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Slovik

Major General Norman "Dutch" Cota, who was at the execution, called it "the toughest 15 minutes of his life". For context, Cota was also present at the bloodbath on Omaha Beach, where he famously rallied troops.

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upvoteby dmbrThnYou6 hours ago|
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You can absolutely emigrate prior to the conscription coming to fruition. It has to be permanent, or it's draft evasion, but it is perfectly legal.

Sorry for the edits confusing things. I can see earlier how you thought I meant desertion as opposed to emigration.

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upvoteby danaris3 hours ago|
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Most people do not have the ability to emigrate. Hell, a great many people barely have the economic ability to move across their own state, but emigration requires that the country you're trying to move to is willing to let you live and work there permanently. I don't know if you're familiar with the difficulties involved in this, but I can assure you they are significant.

Dismissing the loss of freedom inherent in conscription by saying you can avoid it by abandoning your entire life, leaving your country, your job, probably your family behind...even if you do have both the money and a legal path to immigrate somewhere else, which, again, most people do not, that's hardly a reasonable alternative.

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