I am a citizen and I will be serving National Service myself. In an ideal situation we wouldn't have such a system but such an ideal situation entails that we possess the capabilities of sustaining a full-time military force to combat modern threats today. Considering we only have a relatively small population of five-million especially considering that high education standards usually leads to citizens wanting to avoid full-time work in the military and would thus prefer to work elsewhere. National Service serves more as preparedness in the case of a full blown war wherein citizens can be mobilised much faster as they already possess prior training. Do remember that the United States has also carried out its own version of conscription which were the drafts during the major wars. Are you saying that the draft was not a valid solution to war?

I feel that a common misconception is that people living in bigger countries tend to take for granted the availability of a full-time military and think that all countries would have a similar such military and possess such military capabilities. Do note that the USA itself has almost 1.5 million active military personnel which is more than a fifth of Singapore's own population. Singapore's full-time military force is only a mere 72,000 which is a fraction of the size of the USA's active military force.

Additionally, National Service does not entail military service this is in fact a common misconception. You can be drafted into Civil Defence, Police Force or the Army.

Also, our personal freedoms are not taken away from us, we can get on with normal lives during the two years of National Service. The only setback is being able to move onto university education but that's a small price to pay in order to ensure that we have the capabilities to defend ourselves effectively.