As someone who is about to do mandatory military service in Israel, how is the military service in Switzerland?

30 comments
  1. You get to fuck around a bit, do lots of useless things, occasionally some useful things, and get shouted at. You’re paid for it so there’s that.

    Thankfully the chance that I’d ever need to use any of what we did in a real situation is low, because I’d probably get killed or kill myself by mistake rather quickly.

  2. Depends on what unit you join and what your thoughts on the military are.

    Some quit, some are super bored, most learn a thing or two about sleep deprivation, following inane orders, meaningful and efficient organization (or the lack thereof) of hundreds of people, taking care of and shooting a rifle, the endless stupidity of some people, spending too much money on alcohol, and some thoroughly enjoy their time. Also pretty much no girls serving?

    Depending on your outlook on life, you may or may not like that we don’t get to shoot Palestinian kids.

  3. I don’t know how it is in Israel but I enjoyed my service here in Switzerland.

    Biggest difference is probably that we only ever train and don’t get real deployments as there’s no war on in Central Europe at the moment.

  4. It’s like the boy scout but with guns personally i had a lot of fun even if sometimes it was really hard especially after the 2nd 50 km march but damn the satisfaction at the end

  5. Well we dont have to invade other countries and kill people for basic human rights..so i guess its better

  6. You do use a lot of taxpayer money so that a certain proportion of the population can FEEL save. The swiss military is not prepared for any scenarios that might happen in the real world (symmetrical wars are not going to happen in W-Europe).

  7. Depends on the function. It can go from super chill to Full Metal Jacket real quick. It also really depends on your “Kader” / your Superiors. All in all especially since ive been there during covid it sucked quite a bit. Harsh drill, lack of sleep and never being allowed to go home for weeks on end starts fucking with your mental health a bit. It started to mellow out once we knew the right times and places to light up a joint. Made it much more endurable.

  8. Its a paid summer camp where you get to blow stuff up and get a free gun at the end. Foods pretty good sleeping arrangements are usually fine (except if your company gets shafted and you get a bunker), most trainers are generally friendly and you get to drink each night after work. You do however end up doing a lot of useless, mind numbing shit too.

    Source: Tanker for 6 years. Dont @ me saying its not.

  9. I am a Canadian Swiss national. Spent 2 years there at 18-20 ish. Was supposed to do service but was able to get out and decided to return to Canada. I regret that decision immensely. Sounds like fun and a good way to be part of Swiss society.

  10. Although it has its downsides (most of them were already mentioned), I had a fairly good time tbh.

    You end up doing some cool stuff, if you are into it. I also made some good friends. But I can imagine that it is a completely different experience, if you’re doing it in a country within conflict or on the verge of conflict.

    I probably lost a year too, that I could’ve used for studies. On the other hand I regard my military service as a somewhat useful life experience. Depending on what you do in the military, it can be something refreshing, when you’re coming from a rather bland student or office life. But this is probably a rather unpopular opinion on reddit…

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