[color=ghostwhite][b][u]Letters to Leku the Silent Lion: #2[/u][/b][/color] ---------- Translations provided by the Avenger Rat; both letters were originally written in Finnish. ------------ [i]Dear Leku, The world has been stabilized very well since some of your parallels have been elected to lead their countries. Very few countries in this world still enforce conscription, and Finland is one of them. Do I like conscription? No, I don't. But do I understand why it is in our constitution? Absolutely! When I read the history of Kriegland, it reads like a tragedy to me, even though it was something we all can learn from. I can also see why they live in many countries around the world here. In Finland, teaching survival skills is upmost important. This is important for our children for their development. Then after high school, they are conscripted to learn what to do during a national emergency, which is of course not limited to, say, us being invaded. It could be like a severe natural disaster or a disaster resulting from an accident. No, not every conscript learns how to defend from an invasion. We have conscripts who learn how to aid the local community during a major disaster. Most conscripts, of course, return to civilian life, because military and government work can be more intensive than they think. To me, I think the majority of people should learn a trade; especially the fact that many of the hard labor work is aided with technology so much, most laborers work from home most of the time. We prune trees on the streets with lasers these days due to rapid technological advancements. Even with AI, there's always going to be jobs. AI is just an enhancement to get the work done faster. I've got a wife who works in medical billing and coding, and she told me that AI only gets the job done faster. But what do I know about her field? Nothing, really. In the end, I'm just happy to see that laborers use technology from home, too, so that they're not taking the risk of suffering from workplace injuries. The Finnish government wants to make sure we have more tax money to keep funding our social programs to encourage our people to get married and have kids as part of life here. In the end, not everybody can work in the military full-time like myself. It's nice to work as a military officer, but you already know how much responsibility that comes with. That's a privilege, and not everybody gets to do that, especially during times of peace. So what do you think of my views that the majority of people are more fit doing trade work for their communities than to be soldiers, even though constitutional conscription is here to stay regardless of what we Finns think about it? Second Lieutenant Jaska Korhonen (male red fox, age 25) Oulo, North Ostrobothnia, Finland P.S.: I'm so happy that the Americans are our allies because despite the lack of conscription in America, whatever their military does for themselves while continuing to provide lots of support for us, especially under the Zanicchi Administration, is working wonders. If you're wondering what branch I serve in, it's the Finnish Army, because it's the easiest military branch to get in here, mainly because they're typically the first choice for conscripts.[/i] ------------ Leku's reply: [color=snow][i]Dear Second Lieutenant Korhonen: First of all, thank you for your service. I agree with you that the military is not for everybody, and it ultimately depends on how a country functions as a society, given its history and culture. For us, conscription will still happen. For the Americans, there is no reason to do it because they're not on the brink of a global disaster that would require every single man to be serving. The last time that happened was WW2 (World War II), although some of those people wanted to be involved because there was so much propaganda going on motivating them to do it. (You look back at it today, and Leo says it was still poisonous to the brain.) With the other parallels in charge, though, the world has forgiven one another for what happened back then, and continues to work together for a better future together. I also agree with your arguments about how the majority of people in Finland are better suited for trade work for the community than for being soldiers. We will always have the need for soldiers, but most of the soldiers I know who are serving our military for life, probably because of all the military bands they play in, are majority Forsythian, and on top of that, Krieglandonian. They did have such a depressing history, and when I spoke to His Majesty, King Leo V about it, he told me wanted his subjects to progress forward because he was tired of being depressed. That was not, however, what CNG wanted; it thought Kriegland was the perfect environment. You and I both know it wasn't. I'm the first parallel of Leo to ever lose a federal election, although I didn't even know I was running because I was a write-in candidate. (That's how Leo won the election in 2020; he wasn't even trying!) However, I'm happy with the way our current Prime Minister (Antti Petteri Orpo) has been running things; he and I get along very well together. If I do win the office, one of the things I plan to do (which I hope he's also doing) is put emphasis on your idea about trade worker jobs, so that when a soldier's time in the military is complete, and they do not wish to continue, the programs will easily help them settle into civilian life much faster. (I met a group of lions the other day who were soldiers in the Army just like you, but transitioning back into civilian life was a problem for them because they are suffering from PTSD. I hope you don't have that.) Apart from that, I haven't figured out what else to say yet if I do decide to run for office. I hope that answered the question for you; if not, let me know what I missed. Yours truly, Gen. Leku Virtanen, a.k.a. Leku the Silent Lion[/i][/color]