Switzerland has almost 800 years of peace. Its is famous for its watches, its chocolates and -of course- its banking system. But what not many people know is that Switzerland has a quite strong military force based on the mandatory national service of its citizens.

And after so many years of peace some started to think if having a mandatory military service instead of professional Armed Forces was wise. The referendum that followed gave an overwhelming 73% in favor of the conscript army.

However, the introduction of alternative non-military service in the beginning of the ’90s meant that the actual military force was decreased from 200.000 on 2008 to 164.000 today.

The solution they talk about now is to allow to overweight people being cut from the military service to actually serve in not demanding positions. The thought behind this is that you don’t need good physical condition in order to do paperwork in an office or be on cyber-warfare duties.

We will have to wait and see how this goes.