No conscription. [Quistis was immediate with her first thought.] Conscription doesn't lead to a cohesive fighting force, and should only be used as a last resort in times of invasion by a foreign party - and only if you're badly outnumbered. Taking people away from their lives and loves by force only breeds resentment. Open military training from a young age for officer recruits and either look them over personally or appoint someone you trust implicitly to do so to find the good ones. Regular foot soldiers can wait until they're older, but you'll want to find the good officers early and hold on to them. Only fight to defend yours or another's freedom, institute tolerance and no-tolerance policies - if people can't agree to disagree and keep their differences out of every day work, they shouldn't be in a group that needs to be able to trust every other person with your life. Group your army by their similarities, with the time they arrive for training being the first choice, and their origin being second. Don't tolerate them misusing the general public. Don't let your officers go unchecked. Treat your enemies fairly but justly. And above all don't ever forget that everyone's a person with their own undeniable self - even your enemy.

[...It took Quistis a moment to realize what a speech she'd just given, and she blushed.]

I'm sorry, here you just say something off the cuff and I go and turn it into a lecture... you didn't ask for that.