[artplumber]

Mercs are even worse than draftees for loyalty. Take a look at all the wars with large merc armies. They are the first to run and usually have first priority of protecting the money rather than the people they are fighting for.

Israel is a special case for the draft, because most, if not all, of the people there have come from elsewhere fairly recently - perhaps at most 2 generations. You almost always find that immigrants have more "patriotism" than people that are born in a country. In fact, one of the ways that people can immigrate to the US is by joining the armed forces.