“Is military service in this country's armed forces an option exercisable solely at the discretion of the individual?”

A quick answer to this question would be to say: “That depends on his discretion.”

This is to say that whether an individual is apt rightfully to exercise the choice extended him by a system of optional service would depend on how his conscience — his discretion — has been formed and informed. Moreover, whether any government in securing the political common good could ever grant armed service at the discretion of individuals depends on whether the citizens of a nation are more like Socrates, who while suffering imprisonment and death for conscience's sake still effectually acknowledged “the conscience of the laws,” than they are like Sophists putting in individualistic claims that their own subjective opinion is the measure of truth.