Why Are Young Men Avoiding Military Service?

A member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament states: "Currently, we have about 2 million military service absentees inside the country and about 300,000 abroad." (Fars, December 26, 2014) Given the three objectives that are presented in the public opinion of Iranians regarding military service, namely serving the country in times of war (defending independence and territorial integrity) and peace, the development of young men (not women) through training and hardships, and the integration of youth through universal conscription (rich and poor, educated and uneducated, from powerful and powerless families, rural and urban), why do a significant number of young men, in the millions, evade military service in the Islamic Republic? All three objectives are seriously questioned by the realities of military service. Firstly, out of the approximately two-year military service period (which is sometimes reduced or reverted to the original), only a short period is dedicated to general or specialized military training, and after training, most of the soldiers' time in Iran is wasted. In terms of wasted time, there is no difference between educated and uneducated, or specialists and non-specialists. Educated and specialized soldiers are usually assigned to positions in military and civilian sectors that have little productivity, and they do not feel satisfaction from the work they do (or do not do). The civilian sector to which educated soldiers are sent lacks the capacity to fill work time with productive work, let alone those who are temporarily employed there. Secondly, serving in the military is no longer free of costs for individuals as it used to be considered a voluntary activity without expense. Soldiers must pay for transportation to the military base and some of their clothing and food expenses. With the very low wages given to soldiers, these costs cannot be covered, and the individual and their family feel that they are engaged in a very unproductive activity (especially in peacetime) while incurring some expenses. In the years following the war, some military and law enforcement sectors, especially the army, have been unable to provide the minimum needs of soldiers, such as underwear or hygiene supplies. Additionally, the quality of food in barracks is so low that some individuals do not eat it or pay extra to supplement it. Thirdly, the spirit of justice in military service during the Islamic Republic has been severely undermined. Those who serve their military service due to family or friendly connections, or due to their background in the Basij or ideological orientations in the IRGC, are often not sent to remote areas and have more flexibility in terms of working hours and commuting home. In the past two decades, several times the option to buy military service has been made available even for those who have just become subject to conscription, which has benefited the wealthy classes, and low-income families do not consider this process fair. The exemption period for religious seminarian students is even longer than that for university students in similar fields. Most clerics are exempt from military service by working in the public sector, while this option is available for only a very small number of university graduates. Gender discrimination has also existed in military service in the past and continues to exist. Fourthly, military service no longer serves its previous function of being the only avenue for socialization and voluntary activity for many young people. Today's youth undergo socialization processes in schools, universities, and public spaces, and military service does not add a significant dimension to this in peacetime. Furthermore, most soldiers are not engaged in activities that provide direct service to the public during peacetime, so they do not experience feelings similar to those of volunteers in other social activities. Thus, without job satisfaction, without a sense of serving the country, alongside a strong feeling of injustice and the burdensome nature of military service, it cannot be expected that all young people in the country will willingly and eagerly go to military service or remain in service after entering. The only aspect of military service that can still be rationally defended is short-term military training aimed at strengthening the country's defense capabilities. What can be done with military service? Today, in most countries around the world (123 countries), compulsory military service has been abolished. What remains of military service in many countries is military training and a reserve period for mobilization in wartime. In most countries that still have compulsory military service, the duration has been reduced, and service has been extended to civil activities. Some countries even do not have compulsory military service during wartime and recruit their defense forces from among volunteers. The reason for this is the professionalization of military service and the specialization of defense matters. Defense of a country or military power of nations today is no longer measured solely by the number of their ground, naval, and air forces. Compulsory military service is a phenomenon belonging to the early formation of new nation-states. At this time, governments needed to form their national armies from scratch but lacked the financial, administrative, and educational capacity to establish a fully professional army capable of carrying out all assigned missions in times of war and peace. Additionally, armies were not mechanized enough for human resources to only take on part of the work. All tasks had to be performed by human resources (mostly unskilled and non-professional). For example, there were no excavators or loaders, and labor had to build trenches and roads to keep forces safe or mobile. The professional part of the army constituted a very small percentage of its human resources. Today, this situation has changed. After about a century since the formation of modern armies in many countries, compulsory military service has lost its function both from a military and a social and political perspective. Armies, even in developing countries, have become mechanized, and infantry and physical manpower do not play a decisive role in deterrence and aggression. Most governments, especially those with high oil revenues or economic growth, can adequately cover the costs of a professional army. Besides the military aspect, recruitment in new nation-states also had a social and political dimension. In these two years (more or less), these young people were exposed to political propaganda and the demeanor and methods that rulers wanted - often through coercion and top-down orders. In these two years, young people learned in a system that was largely punitive that social life within the framework of a nation-state (mostly authoritarian) meant obeying superiors and submitting to laws that were enforced or not enforced or evaded by those who hold power. Today, young people are less susceptible to such propaganda. On the other hand, the military strategy of the Islamic Republic in the years following the Iran-Iraq War has had four dimensions: 1) Presence in crisis and unstable areas of the region (Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq) to create trouble for major powers and create a secure margin inside, 2) Strengthening missile capabilities and creating threats thousands of kilometers away for deterrence and also threats, 3) Seriously pursuing a nuclear program that at least creates the capacity to build a nuclear bomb in the country, and 4) Strengthening and consolidating the power of the paramilitary forces inside to protect the regime. Conscripts, and infantry made up of ordinary non-elite youth have no place in this strategy. The IRGC even recruits forces from among Afghan youth for deployment to Syria and does not see the social basis for hiring forces from among Iranians, let alone sending Iranian soldiers to this country. The issue of military service is thus not beneficial for the government or the society, and both sides are trying to evade the issue. On the people's side, since there is no possibility of convincing the rulers through democratic methods, powerful and wealthy families rely on their connections and wealth, while some families without access to power and wealth face this dilemma by accepting their young men's evasion from military service. Families that can even send their sons abroad for education before they reach the age of service do so to avoid conscription. Some low-income families disconnected from power send their young men to military service in desperation. The government, in this situation, seeks to use this issue instrumentally to cover budget deficits. However, the above solutions do not resolve the problem of compulsory military service, which has outlived its usefulness in the world. The solution lies in making military service professional and voluntary and providing general military training for wartime in countries with weaker defense systems.