content: I think in Germany and France if you're a pacifist you still have to volunteer to work with the emergency services. It's a huge waste of everyone's time though, bored teenagers aren't much use to professionals. Could be worse though, an uncle of mine from France was a hardcore pacifist and pretended to be crazy to get kicked out. He did some really funny stuff. Back then they used to either throw you in jail if you refused to play along or in a mental institution if you acted nuts. He was fortunate, the chief surgeon was reasonable and just kicked him out on medical grounds.