In the absence of any criteria as to whom to conscript the conscription gangs were eager to collect as many men as could be found without any regard to age or physical fitness. It was reported that out of 48,000 men collected throughout the 1820s and sent to the Hankah camp to the north of Cairo only 20,000 men were fit for military service.

QUESTION: Why did the conscription system lack any fitness criteria? What consequences did this waste have for the army's readiness and the peasant economy? Builds on: "Egyptians fiercely resisted forced military service under the Pasha."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 410