--- Una wrote:
I'd always assumed that there would have been some sort of basic military service that everyone gets dragged through. Although I reckon Vila got out of it somehow.
There are two models of military dictatorship. The one which militarises the population, the obvious example being the Facist regimes in Italy and Germany. The other being the Roman model where the military have a monopoly on the use of force and are, therefore, able to run affairs as they choose.
I'd assumed that the Federation was the latter on the basis of Par's remarks about Space Command running the Federation. I suspect that my assumptions were coloured by the fact that the majority of soldiers we see signed up rather than being drafted. I think I see the Federation as akin to the Roman Empire in series 1 & 2, like the Empire after Augustus it is a military dictatorship behind a civilian facade. In series 3 and 4 it is more like the Roman Empire after the death of the Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator) when the constitutional facade was pretty much dropped and the Empire was run openly as a military dictatorship with coup d'etat being the approved manner of succession.
Given the absence of canonical data on the subject, if you want to have the crew joining the Federation Youth and doing their military service you can do. I suspect that Una's right though and Vila got out of it.
Stephen.
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