Fictional Modern Military State

This page features a generic fictional military state set in a modern or semi-modern setting. It will simply be referred to as "The State" during this text. 
== The State ==
Generally considered to be a welfare state, The State's entire culture and society revolves around it's military. Education is free, provided one has served a stint in the military and the military reserve tends to be the most popular source of finding a student job, to pay for expenses while studying. Further more, many dorms are only available to people who serve in the reserve. Anyone who serves in the reserve is further more entitled to free physical training, certain sports are free (running, swimming, shooting, martial arts), health care and dental is free and there is a slight tax reduction. 
Without serving in the reserve, all of these things are at the expense of the citizen. Minors and retired citizens do, however, have access to all welfare benefits regardless of their stance on the military. 
Many lines of work are dominated by educations only offered up in the military, for instance, it's possible to become a security guard outside of the military, but the education is free and considered better in the military. Many other such examples also exist. 
Management and leadership jobs are also mainly held by people with military leadership experience, and leadership educations are traditionally only available through the military, with small focus-based courses offered up by the place of employment. 
=== Schooling ===
From 5 to 15, children are schooled in elementary school. During this time, they are taught normal school activities, but a very important part of elementary school, is long periods of more practical schooling, involving parts of various crafts, attempting to pinpoint the strong-points of the student. Students also are taught to drive various vehicles (car, small bus, small truck, motorcycle and vehicles with trailers), and while most pass their exams at age 14, the license is not issued until age 15. In addition, it's also mandatory to learn how to pilot a motorboat. 
Children and teenagers in elementary school wear school uniforms that do not differ from school to school. These uniforms are not very strict (sleeves can be worn up, shirt can be unbuttoned ect.), and there are several available models that are all allowed, but most of them are simple and somewhat boring, keeping fashion out of the schools, and bringing uniformed life into the mentality of school children at an early age. 
School children also learn mandatory path finding, traditionally known as being a boy-scout in other countries, but this phenomenon doesn't exist in The State, because the school runs it as a mandatory after-school activity once a week. 
In addition, school children learn first aid around age 13, and start learning self-defense at very basic levels as soon as they start in school. 
Sports is very important and entirely mandatory for school children. At least one after-school sports activity must be selected per child. Because it's free, many choose more, especially swimming is popular, because a long as the child attends one after school sports activity each week, they do not get marked down for absence if they don't show up, and that means they can treat swimming class as free fun-time in the pool while focusing on, say, their track running. 
==== Military Academies and Private Schools ====
Military Academies is where most 15 year old children go after elementary school is out. The Military Academies are boarding schools that teach the equivalent of American High-School, but also teach each student a short craft-based or otherwise similar education, depending on what talents they showed in elementary school. 
The military academies use their own ranks and uniforms, that are separate from the real military, but they train in real military disciplines, such as obstacle courses, rifle- and pistol shooting, terrain orientation, military-strategy and history, military protocol and more. 
Children in the military academies are how ever NOT trained as soldiers, nor trained to fight. They only learn how to use weapons in a more general sense, and the weapons they practice with are hunting rifles and sports pistols. The idea is simply to lay a foundation for later military work, but the focus is very much to school them. 
For those who can afford it, an alternative to the Military Academies are the private schools, often chosen by those who can afford to miss out on the welfare. Military conscription is mandatory, but anyone can say no to active military service, which results in them being required to work for the state in some capacity, for four years without any real reward except a considerably reduced pay for the work they do. 
Those who refuse frequently make a deal to finish their desired educations and then work 4 years, using those four years to get working experience with their new degrees. This works to the benefit of both The State and the people in question. The private schools are of course a lot better, but very few can afford them. 
People who go to private schools typically get a better education and finish it several years before those who rely on public schools even begin on their educations. To top it off, they usually have good contacts or intend to work in a family business, so they immediately start working in a company for free on an arrangement with The State for four years, so they tend to move directly into what ever job they want. 
=== Conscription ===
Anyone who turns 18 are conscripted for two years of military service. The only exception are mentally handicapped people, and people who have been declared insane. Even physically handicapped people are offered a conscription period, but can turn it down as they see fit. 
Handicapped people usually go through a shorter conscription, or skip certain parts of conscription. Those with only mild handicaps might be conscripted on normal terms, but those with major handicaps might simply be trained for a function and put to work for some time. 
The reason handicapped people are not excluded is because of the cultural importance of serving the country in The State. 
Conscription starts with a six month period where the conscripts wear a special conscription uniform and taught by instructors who are hired by the military specifically to handle this phase. Military protocol and physical training is upheld at this time. 
During these six months, the conscripts have to take and pass several mandatory educations. If they fail, they will have to extend their conscription until they do pass. 
The first education is service employee and security guard. This teaches the conscript to properly work with security equipment and radios, but also how to be service minded towards civilians and higher ranking officers or foreign military personnel. These educations are entirely valid in civilian life. The course contains combat training with batons, pepper spray, tasers, sub-machine guns, shotguns and handguns as well as more advanced hand-to-hand combat. Finally, the conscripts learn tactical urban driving in both cars and motorcycles with or without sirens, as personal protection is also part of this course. 
The second is fire Marshall training, which is fairly self-explanatory, and is combined with basic EMT training (called paramedic one in The State). This period is the hardest and most frequently failed, but failure is still rare. 
The final step of the first six month period is logistics, which teaches a number of short logistics educations, mainly how to work on certain systems and pilot certain working crafts. The final period is so short it's usually taken care of at convenient times during the first other phases. 
After the first six months have passed, another six months of basic infantry training will occur. During this period, the conscripts learn how to fight as soldiers. Deployment from water-, air- and land vehicles of many types are taught in this period, combat in urban-, rural and out right wild environments takes place in this phase, including mountains, desert, swamp, forest and arctic. 
It's generally a very thorough basic training that many other countries would (combined with the additional military training the subject already has) consider good enough for immediate deployment. 
After infantry training ends, the conscripts finally get to choose a branch of the military that they wish to continue to serve in. They can choose the Army, the Navy or the Air force. The coming six months are about learning their new function in what ever branch they chose, and then train for their upcoming mission. 
The final six months is a deployment phase and all conscripts are deployed if there is a current ongoing conflict (which there always is), and besides, navy deployment doesn't even require a conflict to exist. 
The state has a tendency to involve it's army and air force in every little conflict it can get away with, but in many cases only send their fresh troops with a small group of veterans to back them up, in order to strengthen the professional level of their people. 
The six month deployment ends with a 3 month period where the conscript is no longer conscripted, but is required to see a psychologist weekly (though it doesn't have to be in person - only the first session needs to be in person and subsequent can be phone calls or video-chat), and is paid normal conscription salary to do nothing at all, but offered a multitude of free activities. 
Conscripts make more money during the final 6 months than they do in their entire conscription, and a lot of them save up money for a nice car, down-payment for some property that they loan for or travel. 
In the first year of conscription, a conscript has the rank "private" but after choosing a branch of employment their rank changes to either "Trooper", "Mariner" (note: differs from "Marine" which is short hand for Marine infantryman) or "Airman". It should be fairly obvious which title belongs to which unit. A catch all phrase for any person serving in the military is "soldier". This rank is carried until the end of conscription when the soldier transfers to the reserve, and is promoted one rank up. The new rank is the same as before, but with the prefix "high" (i.e. high mariner). 
=== Transition to the reserve ===
Conscripts who finish their 3 month "calm-down" period are automatically transferred to the reserve. It's mandatory to serve in the reserve for at least 5 years, but many choose to serve longer. 
During the time in the reserve, the reservist will have sub-unit service once a week, usually on evenings, and will serve one weekend every month. 
They frequently have to go on drills and exercises (at least bi-annually). These drills usually consist of 5 days of infantry training, and five days function training. 
It's possible (and sometimes required) for a reservist to go on additional drills and courses to expand their capabilities. Many do this voluntarily as the reservist is paid per extra hour of service, so many take courses they will never need. 
All educations allow for continuing reservist duty on the side, and in fact most job contracts assume that the employee will be working only part time due to having reservist duty. 
A common work week is only 4 days of typically 8 hours because one day is reserved for military reserve duty and a common school week is usually a bit shorter, but it's not uncommon to have some lectures and workshops in the weekends. 
Reservists have free access to many activities. This includes most sports including fitness. The arrangement works in a very pro-active way. Anything the reservist signs up for, the reservist only pays when the reservist doesn't show up, so if a reservist signs up for, say a swim team, but doesn't make it (and can't give a good reason), the reservist pays a (modest) fee. Fitness memberships are however not on the same arrangement and reservists can hit the gym when they please, the same normally goes if they sign up for access to a pool rather than, say, an actual swim team. 
Reservists get a considerable discount on sports equipment, and can usually borrow sports equipment from the reserve sports association if they don't mind not owning their own equipment, or otherwise order it through the sports association if they don't already have it in stock. Things like sports clothes and running shoes are always free, as long as the used (now worn down) equipment is handed in, in return. 
==== Education and student jobs in the reserve ====
School is free for reservists. Most reservists choose to continue working with what ever craftsmen education they learned in the military academy if they were lucky enough to get assigned to using that craft in the military, as this gives them the practical experience needed to go directly to school and get a master-diploma, but others go out and work for, usually two years and return to school for six months to get their master-diploma. Master-diplomas result in a considerable pay-bump and much better job opportunities and even result in additional opportunities inside the military. 
Many choose to do this, but with so many people having craftsmen educations and similar diplomas, only the best of the best actually get jobs in this business, so many go to the university afterwards. 
Some choose to make use of their "Paramedic one" education, or their training as security guards or with logistics. With pretty much every single citizens being a "paramedic one", again, only the best of the best are hired, and "paramedic one", while legally allowing a citizen to work as a paramedic, the reality is that people with "paramedic one" diplomas usually need to go through an apprenticeship period, and only those with stellar results, or those who were assigned as military paramedics have a chance in that field. Very few women are ever chosen for these jobs, as it requires a lot of strength to lift unconscious people, or drag people around on the battlefield, but those few women who do pass the bar are very respected in society. 
Security is also surprisingly hard to get into. It's another man-dominated field. The basic security training is enough to get hired as security for a place of business, which pays a decent wage and is usually taken as a student-job.
In order to be hired as roaming security or as alarm-patrol security or even as a bodyguard, more requirements are necessary. These requirements are possible to get through the reserve courses but are very difficult to pass, and these jobs pay rather well because only few people have the necessary skills, and it's also generally considered a shaky business because after a certain age, it becomes difficult to keep up with the requirements. 
Logistical work and service employment is generally low-pay, but advancement opportunities are very good. Women tend to dominate these fields for student jobs, and also do better here than most men, being frequently promoted and uplifted. Many women choose university educations or other such educations that supplement their job experience well, and then use the reserve to gain the leadership qualifications they need to get into administrative positions, where men tend to prefer management positions in this field. 
The university is somewhat difficult to get into, at least the academical university educations are, but the technical- and practical colleges are generally as well regarded and much more open to all. Many people choose an education from these ranks and most educations in the technical- and practical colleges are exactly five years long, so many graduate the same day they are formally released from reservist duty. 
Reservists can prolong their mandatory 5 year term contractually, if their education is longer than 5 years, but this often requires or demands reenlistment for a period. 
==== Housing in the reserve ====
Housing is free for reservists, but of course it's difficult to be picky. A reservist who lives alone can either find a roommate on his own, in which case they are commonly granted a two bedroom apartment (3 room apartment for non-Americans) or they will be offered a 1 bedroom apartment (two room apartment when living alone). Usually these apartments are small and not always in particularly good condition, but free is free. The reservists pay for power, water and heat if they use over a certain (fairly low set amount), but any government issued housing comes with a (very slow) free internet connection that is however optionally up-gradable as all government housing has (or is supposed to have, at least) fibernet. 
Government issued housing also always features a computer that may be moved into storage within the domicile, but never removed from the property. These computers are actually fairly decent, a typical build would feature a dual-core processor, a high-end integrated GPU and at least six gigabytes of ram and a 1 tb SSD. 
Reservists need access to a computer and the internet to uphold their duties to the reserve. A landline phone subscription is also mandatory and included in the house. The landline may not be unplugged. 
Even if the reservist cannot pay for power, there will always be power in the phone sockets and government computer sockets, so that the house computer and the phone will always work. 
The location of government housing is typically random, but placed close to where the reservist serves and and the in the general vicinity of his chosen place of education, though housing close to the places of education sites is reserved for those who actually study, so reservists who finish their education prior to ending their 5 year term are almost always relocated. 
Housing is only free as long as the reservist is on a mandatory contract. People who remain in the reserve after the mandatory term is up can continue renting their home for a fairly low wage, but are encouraged to relocate to their own property. 
The number one reason reservists seek re-enlistment is to afford down payment on housing.
=== Enlistment ===
Some people prefer a military career. In order to get a military career, some sort of degree is usually required, even if leadership isn't the goal. Military jobs pay rather well, and there are rather few of them, as The State relies heavily upon it's reserve and it's conscripts, but certain units are made up entirely of enlisted people. 
In order to enlist, the minimum requirement is having some sort of degree that relates to the military function. A military gunsmith might acquire a master-diploma in gunsmithing and a radar technologist might acquire a degree working with computers. 
Upon enlisting, the lowest rank possible to hold, is the fourth and final tier of private, which is the same as the original branch title but with the suffix "first class" (i. e. airman first class). 
Anyone who wishes to enlist need to either have obtained qualifications through reserve training (which is quite possible, but certainly requires enthusiasm and drive) or enlist as a soldier first class and serve a full term (one year) like that before moving on depending on qualifications. 
All under officers, commanding officers and warrant officers are enlisted personnel, and so are instructors, and to acquire such a job description, one must commonly in correct order advance up through the ranks, but there are shortcuts. 
If an enlisted private manages to acquire the first level of under officer training, and has the correct degrees, the private can then go to commanding- or warrant officer school directly, sometimes even skipping several officer ranks, depending on the degree the private has obtained.