> The law provides for two categories of service — military service and alternative (civil) service — prescribing the rules and procedures for performing these obligations.

The alternate civil service route is understated and extremely useful, I think.

It’s not reasonably possible to draft and train all men who turn 18, so you make a bunch of exceptions and then an alternate route doing stuff like acting as ambulance drivers, firemen, reserve police (think: PCSO/Specials in the UK), even just fucking wrangling paperwork or whatever.

It’s not a bad system, as these things go.