i think its really dumb to have a MANDATORY thing. Where are our rights? (american talks ma)..anyways, even in everyday situation, I used to have israeli frens in my high school who had to take one n a half yrs off of school because they had to go n serve in the army....it was sad to see and know that their lives were uncertain - "maybe we'll meet in the US during our colleges"...its scary to even imagine if we had to go through that...