The Nephites were fighting for their lives. Once again, the analogy to the later Aztec conflicts can shed some light on the situation in the land of Zarahemla. According to Hassig: “It is widely agreed that in preindustrial populations virtually the entire male population capable of bearing arms took part in military affairs and that no one was exempt from war service among the Aztecs. The makeup of the Aztec army, moreover, has been estimated at 90 percent of the male population. Nonetheless, while virtually all males were mobilized in nonstate societies, in states, this was likely to be true only in emergencies or defensive actions. Estimates of 90 percent participation are instructive for the cities attacked by the Aztecs.”
The Nephite situation was clearly defensive and, with the size of the Lamanite army to be arrayed against them, also clearly an emergency. It is in this light that we should understand the mobilization of the stripling warriors (Alma 53:17–19). They would not have been used in an offensive war; but in a critical defensive struggle, they were certainly among those capable of bearing arms.