Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Eddie Lamb recently described the Bermuda Regiment as probably the last organisation that can rescue Bermuda's young men caught up in a life of drugs and violence. His depiction of the Regiment as society's final line of defence against its antisocial elements put me in mind of the Maginot Line.

The Maginot Line was a line of fortifications and other defences that France built on her border with Germany after the First World War. The French believed it would give their army time to mobilise in the event of a German attack and compensate for their numerical weakness. But the Line was too short and its construction didn't anticipate the change from trench warfare to more mobile battles fought with tanks and aircraft. As a result, it failed to save France from a humiliating defeat in the Second World War.

Is the Bermuda Regiment our Maginot Line ? a reassuring but ineffective bulwark against social chaos that's failed to move with the times?

There's much to respect about the Regiment. Most of those who have served in it look back on the experience with pride and enthusiasm, despite any initial reluctance they may have had. It helped get the Island back on its feet after hurricane Fabian. It's a great socio-economic mixer, bringing together black and white, rich and poor, Tuckers Town and back of Town. And as Col. Lamb made clear, it brings discipline into the lives of many young Bermudians who may not have had it at home.

But my biggest problem with the Regiment is that it's compulsory. I'm an unrepentant liberal who grew up in a country where military service is voluntary. The idea of being shouted at while unwillingly performing physical activity causes unpleasant flashbacks to cold, rainy afternoons on a muddy school rugby field.

In Bermuda the draft isn't even about defending your country, possibly the only justification for it in my mind. Militarily, the Regiment is a six-stone weakling. What's the point in training recruits to clean a rifle or assault a building when the last action the Regiment saw was the riots in the 1970s?

The Regiment isn't the only or even the best way to discipline Bermuda's youth and introduce people from different backgrounds to each other. Women are excluded by default and not all men are selected in the ballot. You can avoid it by living abroad until you're too old to be called up. And even for those who do serve, it amounts to only a few weeks a year, for three years, once they've left school.

I can't help but feel that's too little, too late. If the recruits' parents haven't done their job I don't see how the Regiment can hope to remedy that. I'm unaware of anything other than anecdotal evidence that the Regiment produces any long-term improvement in the behaviour of its recruits. Perhaps someone should do a study to investigate the Regiment's success in turning wall-sitting wastrels into productive members of society?

Some have suggested things would be improved by including everyone in the draft and changing the Regiment's focus from weapons training to community service. That might be a little fairer but it's still not the answer.

Compulsory community service should be reserved for criminals. Instead, perhaps we should focus on encouraging Bermuda's young people to volunteer. If they choose not to, we must respect that. These are adults, not children. It should be their decision if, how and when they want to give back to their community.

The Regiment would be more useful as a full-time, professional, voluntary battalion that could serve as part of the British army. It would allow Bermuda's young men and women to make a career out of the military and may help to channel some of the aggression away from our streets.

To compensate for its loss, I'd like to see more emphasis on social, economic and racial mixing at school, more emphasis on holding absent fathers to account, and more emphasis on teaching parenting skills.

The Regiment is certainly not without value, but I don't believe there's anything that can justify a policy of conscription in peacetime. Like the Maginot Line, it's an idea that belongs to another age.