I think some of you guys are missing the point here. They are not going to war, they are just doing military service. The chances of there being another major conflict in Europe involving Lithuania (a NATO member) are close to zero and as Andreas mentioned, it's only 9 months long. Obviously, I'd be very pissed off if my plans were messed up by it but I wouldn't make such a big deal of it. I'm not surprised that in the past, men who refused to join the army were shamed and seen as unmanly, since back in the day sex roles were very defined i.e Men were providers/protectors and women were mothers and care takers. I'm not defending conscription, my dad did a forced military service in Spain for 2 years in the 70s and he has always told me how much of a waste of time it was. Even then, if during those 9 months they teach you some discipline, to work out and to defend yourself I reckon that many young guys would actually benefit from it.
Тот, кто не рискует, тот не пьет шампанского